Texas Supreme Court Halts Decision Allowing Abortion for Fetus with Fatal Diagnosis
The Texas Supreme Court has paused a judge’s decision that would have allowed a woman to terminate her pregnancy because of a fatal diagnosis to the fetus.
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s petition reverses a Travis County court decision that blocked Texas’ abortion ban in the case of Kate Cox, a Dallas woman.
Paxton said in his filing that the state would suffer an “irreparable loss” if Cox terminated the pregnancy.
“Because the life of an unborn child is at stake, the Court should require a faithful application of Texas statutes before that an abortion is permitted,” Paxton’s request reads.
Meanwhile, Cox’s attorney, Molly Duane, said the new decision keeps Co from needed 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,” Duane, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement Friday night.
It has been almost a week since we requested an emergency abortion for our client Kate Cox, due to dangerous obstetric complications. Kate still hasn’t received an answer from the Texas Supreme Court about whether she’ll be allowed to get the care she urgently needs.
— Center for Reproductive Rights (@ReproRights) December 11, 2023
Cox was 20 weeks and three days pregnant as of Friday. The fetus has trisomy 18, a deadly genetic condition that can cause heart defects and other organ abnormalities. According to CNN, in about half of cases of babies with Trisomy 18, the fetus died before birth. Others who are born die within a few days, and 90 percent die within a year.
In the last month, Cox has said she has been admitted to emergency rooms four times for severe cramping and leaks.
Doctors have told Cox that there is “virtually no chance” the baby will survive, and if she carries the baby to full term, it could impact her chances to get pregnant again in the future.
“Even with being hopeful with the decision that came from the hearing (on Thursday), there’s still – we’re going through the loss of a child,” Cox said. “There’s no outcome here that I take home my healthy baby girl. So it’s hard.”
Cox sued the state in early December, asking courts to allow her the right to terminate the pregnancy. Texas has a strict abortion ban, forbidding abortion after six weeks, except in cases to save the life of the mother or prevent “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, other than a psychological condition.”
“I do not want to continue the pain and suffering that has plagued this pregnancy. I do not want to put my body through the risks of continuing this pregnancy,” Cox said in a written statement released by the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit in Travis County.
Video Courtesy: MSNBC via YouTube
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
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