The Texas Supreme Court has issued a temporary block preventing a woman from obtaining an emergency abortion.
Kate Cox, 31, sought legal permission for the abortion due to a genetic abnormality diagnosed in her fetus, which typically results in miscarriage, stillbirth, or early death after birth.
This legal battle is significant as it tests the limits following the US Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v Wade, which granted a nationwide constitutional right to abortion.
Initially, a lower court in Texas, a state with stringent abortion restrictions, had ruled in favor of allowing the emergency procedure.
However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton requested the block, prompting the state’s highest court to halt the decision.
Ms. Cox, who is approximately 20 weeks pregnant, argued in her lawsuit that continuing the pregnancy would necessitate her third caesarean section, potentially endangering her ability to have more children, which she desires with her husband.
Her lawsuit highlighted that while her doctors deemed the abortion medically necessary, they were hesitant to proceed without a court order due to severe penalties they could face, including imprisonment and losing their medical licenses.
“While we remain hopeful that the Court will ultimately reject the state’s request and do so promptly, we fear that delaying justice could mean denying justice in this case,” said Molly Duane, senior staff attorney at the Centre for Reproductive Rights.
Republican Attorney General Paxton, who previously warned of legal consequences for doctors involved in the procedure, appealed to the Texas Supreme Court to intervene, citing the irreversible loss of the unborn child’s life.
Texas’s current abortion ban allows for a narrow exception only to save the mother’s life or prevent significant impairment of a major bodily function.
