Kate Cox: Texas Supreme Court Cancels Abortion Exception

This blog originally appeared at BBC News.

The Texas Supreme Court has denied a woman’s request for an abortion in the case of her high-risk pregnancy, following her attorneys’ announcement that she was leaving the state for the procedure.

Kate Cox, 31, had pursued an abortion due to a fatal fetal condition jeopardizing her fertility, as diagnosed by doctors.

A lower court had granted an exception, but this decision was overturned on Monday.

Texas enforces one of the most stringent abortion bans in the nation.

Texas’s comprehensive abortion bans restrict the procedure from the moment of conception, allowing exceptions only in limited circumstances where the life of the pregnant woman is in imminent danger. Critics of the law contend that the exception is overly ambiguous and jeopardizes women’s health.

In a concise seven-page ruling, the Texas Supreme Court determined that the doctor attending to Ms. Cox had not sufficiently demonstrated that her safety was imperiled by a “life-threatening physical condition,” a prerequisite mandated by the law.

“The justices emphasized that these laws reflect the policy choices made by the Legislature, and it is incumbent upon the courts to respect and uphold those choices,” they stated.

“This case marked the first instance of a woman seeking court permission for an abortion since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, granting individual states the authority to regulate abortion access,” legal experts noted.

Ms. Cox, a mother of two residing in the Dallas area, pursued an abortion due to her fetus being diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder often resulting in miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant mortality within the first year. Her physicians warned that proceeding with the pregnancy could pose a threat to her future fertility.

As per Ms. Cox’s legal documents, healthcare providers declined to conduct an abortion, citing restrictions tied to the presence of a fetal heartbeat.

She received a special dispensation from a Texas judge on Thursday. However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton promptly warned of potential criminal charges against any medical professionals who assisted her in obtaining the abortion.

He also petitioned the state’s Supreme Court, comprised entirely of Republicans, to step in. The court granted the request, temporarily preventing Ms. Cox from undergoing an abortion while it examined the case.

On Monday, attorneys representing Ms. Cox disclosed that she had departed Texas to seek an abortion beyond the state’s borders. No statewide law in Texas prohibits travel outside the state for an abortion.

“This week of legal uncertainty has been incredibly difficult for Kate,” stated Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, the pro-choice organization representing Ms. Cox. “Her health is in jeopardy, and after being in and out of the emergency room, she could not afford to wait any longer.”

Only a few hours after Ms. Cox’s legal team’s announcement, the state Supreme Court declared a verdict against her.

President Joe Biden remarked on Ms. Cox’s case on Tuesday, stating, “This should never happen in America.”

“Legal and medical chaos, as we are witnessing in states like Texas, Kentucky, and Arizona, is a direct result of Roe v. Wade being overturned, and as we predicted would happen, women’s health and lives now hang in the balance,” he added.

Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Molly Duane, a lawyer for the Center, called the Supreme Court’s ruling “stunning.”

“Politicians like to tout medical exceptions as being reasonable and available, as Kate’s experience shows they simply don’t exist in practice,” she said.

The Texas Supreme Court is currently considering another abortion case related to the state’s health exception, also led by Ms Duane and the Center for Reproductive Rights. Twenty-two plaintiffs, including doctors and women denied abortions in the state, have sued to clarify the existing state bans, stating that the medical exception is dangerously unclear.

The near-total bans have left physicians “terrified” to use their medical judgment over fear of harsh penalties, Ms Duane told the court last month. Doctors who perform abortions in Texas could risk life in prison, loss of their medical license, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

A lawyer representing the attorney general, Beth Klusmann, argued that existing standards permitted physicians to exercise “reasonable” medical judgment.