OAN’s Abril Elfi
11:06 AM – Saturday, December 9, 2023
The Texas Supreme Court temporarily paused a lower court ruling to allow a woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal disorder to have an abortion.
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Kate Cox, a mother of two from the Dallas area, said she learned last week that her child had trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder that typically causes either stillbirth or an early death for an infant.
On behalf of Cox and her spouse, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed an urgent lawsuit on Monday.
On Thursday, Travis County Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled that they allowed Cox to terminate the pregnancy.
Molly Duane, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, spoke to the press following the ruling stating that it is talking about urgent medical care.
“While we still hope that the Court ultimately rejects the state’s request and does so quickly, in this case we fear that justice delayed will be justice denied,” said Duane. “We are talking about urgent medical care. Kate is already 20 weeks pregnant. This is why people should not need to beg for healthcare in a court of law.”
In a statement released after the decision on Thursday, the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TEXAS) stated that the temporary restraining order “will not insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone else, from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws.”
A letter that Paxton’s office sent to various hospitals detailing the steps it will take to punish physicians who perform abortions was also included.
Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant, says to have visited three different emergency rooms in the last month. Her doctors have informed her that, based on early screening and ultrasound tests, her pregnancy is “unlikely to end with a healthy baby,” and that, given her history of two cesarean sections, continuing the pregnancy puts her at risk of “severe complications” that could endanger “her life and future fertility.”
According to the lawsuit, she has been told by doctors that their “hands are tied” because of Texas’ stringent abortion laws, forcing her to wait for the fetus to die inside of her or carry the pregnancy to term, at which point she will need to have a third C-section “only to watch her baby suffer until death.”
Citing worries for Cox’s safety, Cox’s lawyers have stated they will not discuss her plans for an abortion. Her attorneys disclosed that she was still pregnant in a filing they made with the Texas Supreme Court on Friday.
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