This blog originally appeared at AP News.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge ruled Friday the state’s abortion ban has proven too restrictive for women with serious pregnancy complications and must allow exceptions without doctors fearing the threat of criminal charges.
Amanda Zurawski, who developed sepsis and nearly died after being refused an abortion where her water broke at 18 weeks, left, and Samantha Casiano, who was forced to carry a nonviable pregnancy to term and give birth to a baby who died four hours after birth, center, stand with their attorney Molly Duane outside Travis Country Courthouse, Wednesday, July 19, 2023, in Austin, Texas. A Texas judge ruled Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, the state’s abortion ban has proven too restrictive for women with serious pregnancy complications and must allow exceptions without doctors fearing the threat of criminal charges. The challenge is believed to be the first in the U.S. brought by women who have been denied abortions since the Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50 years had affirmed the constitutional right to an abortion.
The ruling was the first to undercut Texas’ law since it took effect in 2022 and delivers a major victory to abortion rights supporters, who see the case as a potential blueprint to weaken restrictions elsewhere that Republican-led states have rushed to implement.
However, the injunction was immediately blocked by an appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, the state attorney general’s office said.
”The trial court’s injunction is ineffective, and the status quo remains in effect,” spokesperson Paige Willey said in an email.
State District Judge Jessica Mangrum’s ruling granted a temporary injunction that prevents Texas from enforcing the ban against physicians who in their “good faith judgment” end a pregnancy that, because of complications, creates a risk of infection or is otherwise unsafe for the woman to continue.
The injunction also applies to women who have a condition “exacerbated by pregnancy” who can’t be effectively treated during their term. It also covers cases where the fetus has a condition that makes it unlikely to survive after birth.
“For the first time in a long time, I cried for joy when I heard the news,” lead plaintiff Amanda Zurawski said in a statement. “This is exactly why we did this. This is why we put ourselves through the pain and the trauma over and over again to share our experiences and the harms caused by these awful laws.”
Mangrum’s decision said the injunction would run until the completion of the case, which is scheduled for a trial to begin next March 25.
However, the state’s immediate appeal “stays an activist Austin judge’s attempt to override Texas abortion laws pending a ruling by the Texas Supreme Court,” said a statement from First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster.
The immediate impact of Mangrum’s decision also was unclear in a state where all abortion clinics have shuttered in the past year.
The challenge to the state law is believed to be the first in the U.S. brought by women who have been denied abortions since the Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50 years had affirmed the constitutional right to an abortion.
In a six-page ruling, the judge found that portions of the abortion law violated the rights afforded to pregnant people under the Texas Constitution.
The court found that the patients challenging the law each experienced “emergent medical conditions” during pregnancy that risked their health or lives “and required abortion care.”
click here to see full blog: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-texas-lawsuit-ban-exceptions-women-denied-pregnancy-d90f3bce68d86e5eafe3ba4ba5939188?fbclid=IwAR2v6UNMtThWNPWyrJ748SCn7lyuBoNVw3L_qew3V041hY5WpM46_6PY04w
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