Texas Supreme Court blocks lower court’s ruling allowing woman’s abortion

Update:

• The Texas Supreme Court issued an administrative stay against a lower court’s ruling that would have allowed Texas resident Katie Cox to receive an abortion in the state.
• On Dec. 7, Travis County District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled that Cox’s life is at risk and she needs an abortion to preserve her life, health and fertility.
• However, on Dec. 8, Supreme Court clerk Blake A. Hawthorne signed a stay on the Travis County ruling.
• The case remains pending before the Texas Supreme Court.

Texas abortion lawsuit overview:

• Who: A pregnant woman, along with her husband and physician, have filed an abortion lawsuit against the State of Texas.
• Why: She is allegedly suffering urgent complications from a non-viable pregnancy and needs an abortion to protect her future fertility.
• Where: The Texas abortion ban lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Travis County, Texas.

(Dec. 8, 2023)

A pregnant woman who says she is suffering urgent complications filed an abortion lawsuit Dec. 5 against the state of Texas, seeking to terminate a non-viable fetus, Law360 reports.

“Kate Cox needs an abortion, and she needs it now,” the Texas abortion lawsuit states.

Cox’s husband and physician are also named as plaintiffs in the Texas abortion ban lawsuit. They are seeking an injunction to block enforcement of the state’s abortion ban, which they say is so vague that it has effectively barred pregnant women from having abortions even when they experience complications that can pose a risk to their life or future fertility.

Plaintiffs say fetus will not survive, Texas abortion needed to protect future fertility

Cox is reportedly 20 weeks pregnant but has experienced cramping and fluid leaks over the last few weeks. Her doctors reportedly informed her that early screening and ultrasound tests indicate her pregnancy will likely not result in a healthy baby, and that her safest option is to undergo a dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion, especially since she wants to be able to get pregnant again.

“Yet because of Texas’s abortion bans, Ms. Cox’s physicians have informed her that their ‘hands are tied’ and she will have to wait until her baby dies inside her or carry the pregnancy to term, at which point she will be forced to have a third C-section, only to watch her baby suffer until death,” the Texas abortion lawsuit alleges.

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned abortion protections that had been granted under Roe v. Wade, leaving the issue of abortion access for states to decide.

Texas’s Senate Bill 8 bars doctors from performing abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected and allows any individual to seek damages for any illegal abortion that is performed. 

The state’s trigger abortion ban, which took effect shortly after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, makes illegal abortions punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment and revokes the medical license of doctors who are found to have violated the law.

Plaintiffs: Texas abortion ban exceptions are unclear and cause confusion among physicians

Cox’s husband joined as a plaintiff because he fears that he will be held liable under Texas abortion laws. Her obstetrician-gynecologist, who is willing to perform the abortion, also joined the abortion lawsuit.

The plaintiffs argue that all of the Texas abortion bans purportedly contain medical exceptions, but “inconsistencies in the language of these provisions, the use of non-medical terminology and sloppy legislative drafting have resulted in understandable confusion throughout the medical profession regarding the scope” of the exceptions.

Earlier this year, five women sued the state of Texas after they were allegedly denied abortions while they were suffering from medical crises.

What do you think about this Texas abortion ban lawsuit? Tell us about it in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Austin Kaplan of Kaplan Law firm PLLC; Molly Duane, Marc Hearron, Nicolas Kabat and Astrid Ackerman of the Center for Reproductive Rights and Jamie A. Levitt, J. Alexander Lawrence, Claire N. Abrahamson and Aditya V. Kamdar of Morrison Foerster LLP.

The Texas abortion ban lawsuit is Kate Cox, et al. v. State of Texas, et al., Case No. 82235994, in the District Court of Travis County, Texas.

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