Texas Supreme Court Overrules Decision on Emergency Abortion After Woman Departs State

In Austin, Texas, a woman who had applied for a legal medical exemption for an abortion has exited the state. This occurred after the Texas Supreme Court suspended a lower court’s verdict that would have permitted her to undergo the procedure, according to representatives from the Center for Reproductive Rights on Monday.

State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble had previously ruled that Kate Cox, a 31-year-old Dallas resident and mother of two, could terminate her pregnancy. Court records reveal that Cox’s physicians informed her that her baby was afflicted with the chromosomal disorder trisomy 18, which typically results in a stillbirth or an infant’s early demise.

As per the lawsuit filed last week by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Cox was 20 weeks pregnant at the time of filing. She left the state as she “could not wait any longer” to undergo the procedure.

“Her health is at stake,” stated Nancy Northup, CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “She has been frequently visiting the emergency room and she could not wait any longer.”

In reaction to Gamble’s ruling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton cautioned a Texas medical center that it would face legal repercussions if an abortion were performed.

On Monday, subsequent to Cox’s departure from the state, the state Supreme Court lifted the suspension, dismissing it as irrelevant, and reversed the lower court’s ruling that had approved Cox’s request.

The state’s top court opined that Cox’s physician had the authority to determine whether her case met the criteria for an exception to the state’s abortion ban, i.e., whether her life or a significant bodily function was endangered by her pregnancy.

The court found that Cox’s physician did not assert a “good faith belief” about whether Cox’s condition met the law’s criteria, yet the lower court granted her the exception to obtain an abortion.

“The high court expressed that judges do not possess the power to extend the statutory exception to encompass abortions that do not align with its text under the guise of interpretation.”

“Court records suggest that Cox’s healthcare professionals had relayed to her that initial screenings and ultrasound examinations insinuated her pregnancy is ‘unlikely to result in a healthy infant.” Owing to her history of two cesarean sections, persisting with the pregnancy exposes her to ‘grave complications’ that jeopardize ‘her life and future ability to conceive.’

“The legal complaint asserted that due to the rigorous abortion prohibitions in Texas, physicians had communicated to her that their ‘options are limited’ and she would have to endure until the fetus perishes within her or carry the pregnancy to term. In the latter scenario, she would have to undergo a third C-section ‘only to witness her baby’s suffering until its demise.’”

The lawsuit was filed as the state Supreme Court is considering whether the state’s stringent abortion ban is overly restrictive for women who suffer from severe pregnancy complications. An Austin judge ruled earlier this year that women who experience extreme complications could be exempt from the ban, but the ruling is on hold while the all-Republican Supreme Court considers the state’s appeal.

In the arguments before the state Supreme Court, the state’s lawyers suggested that a woman who is pregnant and receives a fatal fetal diagnosis could bring a “lawsuit in that specific circumstance.”

As per the Center for Reproductive Rights, Cox v. Texas represents the initial lawsuit since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, filed in the interest of a pregnant individual in need of emergency abortion services. A week ago, a Kentucky woman, in her eighth week of pregnancy, lodged a legal dispute against her state’s pair of abortion restrictions.