The Texas Supreme Court on Friday night stayed a judge’s ruling that approved an abortion for a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis, leaving in limbo an unprecedented challenge to one of the most restrictive bans in the United States.
The all-Republican court’s order came more than 30 hours after Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two from the Dallas area, received a temporary restraining order from a lower court judge preventing Texas from enforcing state prohibition if applicable.
In a one-page order, the court said it was temporarily suspending Thursday’s ruling “without regard to the merits.”
The case is still pending.
“While we still hope that the Court will ultimately reject the state’s request and do so quickly, in this case we fear that justice delayed is justice denied,” said Molly Duane, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents Cox.
Abortion rights protesters attend a rally at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, on May 14, 2022. AP
Cox’s lawyers have said they will not share her abortion plans, citing concerns for her safety.
In a filing filed with the Texas Supreme Court on Friday, her attorneys indicated she was still pregnant.
Cox was 20 weeks pregnant this week when she filed what is believed to be the first lawsuit of its kind since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that overturned Roe v. Wade.
The order issued Thursday only applied to Cox and no other pregnant women in Texas.
Cox found out she was pregnant for the third time in August and weeks later was told her baby was at high risk for a condition known as trisomy 18, which has a very high chance of miscarriage or stillbirth and low survival rates. , according to your demand. .
Protesters march and rally near the state Capitol following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, on June 24, 2022, in Austin, Texas. AP
Additionally, doctors have told Cox that if the baby’s heartbeat stopped, inducing labor would carry a risk of uterine rupture due to her two previous C-sections and that another C-section at term would jeopardize her ability to have another child. .
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that Cox does not meet the criteria for a medical exception to the state’s abortion ban and urged the state’s highest court to act quickly.
“Future criminal and civil proceedings cannot restore the life that is lost if plaintiffs or their agents proceed to perform and obtain an abortion in violation of Texas law,” Paxton’s office told the court.
Abortion rights protesters spent hours of public comment and debate as the Dentonas City Council voted on a resolution to make enforcement of Texas’ abortion trigger law a low priority for its police force, in Denton, Texas, on June 28, 2022. REUTERS
He also warned three Houston hospitals that they could face legal consequences if they allowed Cox’s doctor to perform the abortion, despite the ruling by state District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, whom Paxton called an “activist” judge.
On Friday, a pregnant woman from Kentucky also filed a lawsuit demanding the right to abortion. The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, is approximately eight weeks pregnant and wants an abortion in Kentucky, but she cannot legally do so because of the state’s ban, according to the lawsuit.
Unlike Cox’s lawsuit, Kentucky’s challenge seeks class-action status to include other Kentuckians who are or will become pregnant and want an abortion.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn