In Texas, where abortion is completely banned, a pregnant woman in her 30s filed a lawsuit to allow abortion in exceptional circumstances, but when the court refused to allow it, she ended up leaving Texas to get an abortion.
The Centre for Reproductive Rights, which represents Kate Cox, 31, the pregnant woman who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement on the 11th, “Cox left Texas to receive an emergency abortion necessary to preserve her health.” “After a week of threats of legal action and prosecution from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Cox was forced to leave Texas and seek medical care outside the state,” the centre claimed.
Previously, Cox, a mother of two children living in Dallas, Texas, decided to have an abortion after much deliberation after being diagnosed in August that her third child, who was pregnant, had a fatal genetic disease caused by an abnormality in the 18th chromosome, and filed a lawsuit to allow exceptional abortion procedures. was filed in state court on the 5th.
Texas bans abortion at almost any stage of her pregnancy. In Texas, if a doctor violates the abortion ban, he or she can be sentenced to up to 99 years in prison and fined at least $100,000. Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant, has a very high risk of the foetus being stillborn or dying within a few weeks of birth, and as she has previously given birth to a child by caesarean section, there is a risk of uterine rupture if the foetus is stillborn this time, and she will never be pregnant or give birth again.
The trial judge who heard the lawsuit ruled that Cox’s situation met the criteria for an exception to the state’s abortion ban and allowed medical staff to perform abortions. However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, immediately appealed to the state Supreme Court, saying Cox’s situation did not meet the criteria for exceptions, such as cases where the mother’s life was in danger.
The state Supreme Court, all Republicans, put on hold the first trial decision to prevent abortions from being performed before the final ruling in this case is made on the 9th, and has not issued a ruling on the merits since.
Nancy Northup, president of the Centre for Reproductive Rights. “She couldn’t wait any longer because her health was at stake.” “As a result of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, women were forced to beg for urgent medical care in court,” she said. “Kate’s case shows the world that abortion bans are dangerous for pregnant women and that exceptions are ineffective.” “I showed it to you,” she emphasized.
The Centre for Reproductive Rights said it had sent Cox an offer to help people obtain abortion services in states such as Kansas, Colorado, and Canada, where abortion is legal. However, the centre did not reveal which area Cox went to.
This lawsuit is attracting attention as the first attempt by a pregnant woman to seek emergency relief against state law since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed abortion rights last year and allowed states to enact abortion bans. collected.