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AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The 31-year-old Dallas woman at the center of a major challenge to Texas abortion ban was forced to leave the state for an abortion while her case awaits action in the state Supreme Court, the Center for Reproductive Rights said Monday.
Last week, a Travis County court ruled Kate Cox could receive an abortion under the medical exceptions in Texas’ ban. Cox received a fatal fetal diagnosis at 20 weeks of pregnancy called trisomy 18. The fetus is unable to sustain life, and Cox argued her health and future fertility would be at risk if she gave birth.
But Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the Texas Supreme Court to intervene, arguing the lower court abused their discretion by imposing a temporary restraining order on the state ban. The Supreme Court temporarily halted that order while they weigh whether to intervene, meaning that Cox had only a short window to obtain a legal abortion in Texas.
“This past week of legal limbo has been hellish for Kate,” President of the Center for Reproductive Rights Nancy Northup said. “Her health is on the line. She’s been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn’t wait any longer… Kate’s case has shown the world that abortion bans are dangerous for pregnant people, and exceptions don’t work. She desperately wanted to be able to get care where she lives and recover at home surrounded by family. While Kate had the ability to leave the state, most people do not, and a situation like this could be a death sentence.”
Cox’s case has garnered national attention as Texas’ abortion ban faces its first major test of whether it applies to women facing pregnancy complications like Cox’s. The state Supreme Court is also deliberating a separate case called Zurawski v. Texas, in which 20 women are suing for clarified language in the state abortion ban that defines when a doctor may intervene to protect a mother’s life.
“The trial court’s order represents an expansion of the statutory exceptions to Texas’s abortion prohibitions. Because the life of an unborn child is at stake, this Court should require a faithful application of Texas statutes prior to determining that an abortion is permitted,” the Attorney General’s Office wrote in a petition to the state Supreme Court.
Attorney General Paxton argues that Cox’s life is not in imminent danger, and the state ban does not contain an exception for unborn children with fatal conditions who are unlikely to survive long after birth.
The Center for Reproductive Rights is not disclosing where Cox traveled to seek care. It is not clear whether she has already received the abortion.
It is not known when the Texas Supreme Court will issue a final judgment on whether the lower court’s ruling can stand.
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