Texas: State Supreme Court bans American woman from having abortion despite health risks

The Supreme Court in the deeply conservative US state of Texas on Friday barred a woman with a high-risk pregnancy from having an emergency abortion, but indicated it would hear the merits of the case later.

Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the Texas Supreme Court to halt Thursday’s ruling allowing 31-year-old Kate Cox to terminate a pregnancy that put her fertility and her life at risk. This is a rare decision in this state, banning abortion with very few exceptions, and is one of the strictest laws in this area in the United States.

“Without addressing the merits of the case, the court administratively stays the district court’s decision” allowing 31-year-old Kate Cox to have an abortion, described the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), which is representing Kate Cox in court.

CRR published a copy of the court’s decision. The Authority indicated that Kate Cox’s application would remain pending before the Court.

“We remain hopeful, though, that the court will ultimately deny the state’s request and do so quickly,” said Molly Duane, CRR’s lead attorney, who fears a deferred court decision will be synonymous with denial.

“This is a medical emergency.”

“This is a medical emergency. Kate is already 20 weeks pregnant. This is why people should not beg (get) medical care in court,” she said. The young woman, a mother of two, very touched, admitted to NBC on Thursday, December 7: “This is a difficult time, we are losing a child. I will not return home to my healthy child. All this grief is hard. »

“Texas law prohibits voluntary abortion,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said, saying the judge “abused her discretion” without “any evidence” while “the Texas medical examiner determined that Kate Cox did not meet the necessary conditions to benefit from abortion.” medical exception.

In his petition, Ken Paxton, an ultra-conservative Republican, called on the Texas Supreme Court to “stay” the decision.

The prosecutor called the judge an “activist”

Last week, Kate Cox received confirmation that her fetus has trisomy 18, a chromosomal abnormality associated with serious birth defects. During an emergency hearing Thursday, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble granted her the option to have an abortion.

In a press release accompanied by a letter addressed to Texas hospitals, Ken Paxton had already warned Thursday of “potential long-term consequences” if those facilities allowed abortions.

Calling the judge an “activist,” he said her ruling in favor of the plaintiff would not protect the hospitals or anyone else from being held civilly and criminally liable for violations of Texas abortion laws.

In the summer of 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. United States. Wade, which for half a century guaranteed the federal right of American women to terminate their pregnancies.

Since then, about twenty states have banned or severely restricted abortion, such as Texas, which allows abortion only in cases of danger of death or risk of serious disability to the mother.