The state’s restrictive abortion ban has been rejected by the Texas Supreme Court on Friday that rules against a group of women seriously facing pregnancy complications. This made it the first in the U.S. to testify in court about being denied abortions since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The same issue was also faced by the center of a separate lawsuit by a mother of two children named Kate Cox from Dallas seeking permission to abort her developed fetus during pregnancy that results into multiple visit to emergency room.
More than 20 women in the Texas lawsuit along with Amanda Zurawski, who was having great trouble in her pregnancy. The Austin woman said she was forced to wait until she was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of sepsis before being allowed for an abortion. Zurawski said, “I am outraged on behalf of my fellow plaintiffs who the Court deemed not sick enough. We all deserve bodily autonomy. Every day, people in Texas are being told that they have no options. It’s sickening and wrong.”
The lawsuit, filed in March 2023, was not filed to repeal Texas’ abortion ban but was aimed to give more clarity on when exceptions are allowed. Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton applauded the ruling, by saying, “I will continue to defend the laws enacted by the Legislature and uphold the values of the people of Texas by doing everything in my power to protect mothers and babies.”
The lawsuit argued that exemptions under the law, which allow an abortion to save a woman’s life or prevent the impairment of a major bodily function, are written too vaguely and create confusion among doctors, who were turning away some pregnant women experiencing health complications because they feared repercussions. The plaintiffs said the abortion ban has made medical professionals wary of facing liability if the state does not consider a situation to be a medical emergency.