Pregnant woman in Texas suing state over abortion ban since giving birth can be fatal, US court hears

Texas’ strict abortion ban will be put to the test Thursday when a judge hears a request for an emergency court order allowing a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis to have an abortion in the state.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two from the Dallas area, claims that the lawsuit she filed is thought to be the first of its kind in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade last year.

Following that historic decision, abortion was quickly outlawed in Texas and twelve other states, essentially at every stage of pregnancy. Although there have been attempts to weaken these prohibitions, such as the current legal battle in Texas over whether the state’s abortion laws are too onerous for pregnant women experiencing difficulties, no woman has yet filed a request for an immediate abortion in court.

“I do not want to continue the pain and suffering that has plagued this pregnancy or continue to put my body or my mental health through the risks of continuing this pregnancy,” Cox wrote in an editorial published in The Dallas Morning News. “I do not want my baby to arrive in this world only to watch her suffer.”

Although Texas allows exceptions under the ban, doctors and women have argued that the requirements are so vaguely worded that physicians still won’t risk providing abortions, lest they face potential criminal charges or lawsuits.

The lawsuit was filed against the Texas attorney general’s office, which has defended the ban in court, and the state’s medical board. Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has not responded to requests for comment.

Cox is 20 weeks pregnant and has been told by doctors that her baby is likely to be stillborn or live for a week at most, according to the lawsuit filed in Austin. The suit says doctors told her their “hands are tied” under Texas’ abortion ban.

The lawsuit was filed a week after the Texas Supreme Court heard arguments about whether the ban is too restrictive for women with pregnancy complications. That case is among the biggest ongoing challenges to abortion bans in the U.S., although a ruling from the all-Republican court may not come for months.

Cox, a mother of two, had cesarean sections with her previous pregnancies. She learned she was pregnant for a third time in August and was told weeks later that her baby was at a high risk for a condition known as trisomy 18, which has a very high likelihood of miscarriage or stillbirth and low survival rates, according to the lawsuit.

Doctors told Cox that if the baby’s heartbeat were to stop, inducing labor would carry a risk of a uterine rupture because of her prior cesareans, and that another C-section at full term would would endanger her ability to carry another child.

In July, several Texas women gave emotional testimony about carrying babies they knew would not survive and doctors unable to offer abortions despite their spiraling conditions. A judge later ruled that Texas’ ban was too restrictive for women with pregnancy complications, but that decision was swiftly put on hold after the state appealed.

More than 40 woman have received abortions in Texas since the ban took effect, according to state health figures, none of which have resulted in criminal charges. There were more than 16,000 abortions in Texas in the five months prior to the ban taking effect last year.

(With inputs from The Associated Press)