Dallas area woman whose life and future fertility are at risk can get abortion, judge rules
A North Texas woman whose high risk pregnancy could threaten her life and future fertility will be allowed to get an abortion following a state district judge’s Thursday ruling.
Kate Cox, who lives in Dallas-Fort Worth, has had a complicated pregnancy that’s led to four emergency room visits the past month for symptoms like severe cramps, leaking fluid and elevated vital signs, according to Molly Duane of the Center for Reproductive Rights, who argued Thursday morning to Judge Guerra Gamble of Travis County.
Cox and her husband Justin have two children and desperately want more, but Cox’s pregnancy has been diagnosed with full trisomy 18. She has been told by her doctors that the baby will be stillborn or live only for minutes, hours or days, Duane told the court, later adding that she believes Cox falls within the medical exemptions to Texas abortion laws.
“Many of Ms. Cox’s health risks during this pregnancy will put her life in danger if left untreated, and carrying this pregnancy to term will significantly increase the risks to her future fertility, meaning that she and her husband may not be able to have more children in the future,” Duane said.
The judge ultimately sided with Cox and her legal team, issuing a temporary retraining order that allows Cox to access an abortion in Texas.
“The idea that Ms. Cox wants desperately to be a parent and this law might actually cause her to lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice,” Gamble, the judge who presided over Thursday’s hearing, said.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the state of Texas, the Texas Attorney General’s Office, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Texas Medical Board and the board’s executive director Stephen Brint Carlton.
Texas’ laws restricting abortion access include a ban on abortions after cardiac activity is detected in a fetus and a so called “trigger” law that went into effect soon after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S, Supreme Court.
The Texas Attorney General’s office did not immediately return a request for comment on whether they plan to appeal the ruling.
Attorneys for the state argued that Cox’s doctor, Dr. Damla Karsan, should get a second opinion from a colleague. Were they to agree that Cox qualifies for the medical exemption, Thursday’s hearing would be moot and the abortion could be performed, said Johnathan Stone from the Texas Attorney General’s office. Duane countered that the temporary restraining order would give everyone at Karsan’s hospital the sufficient comfort that they would not be prosecuted for performing Cox’s abortion.
An evidentiary hearing should be held, he said.
“The abortion once performed is permanent,” he said. “It can’t be undone.”
Stone also argued that the order, if granted as proposed by Cox’s legal team, would effectively change the standard for a medical exemption from the state’s abortion law from a an objective standard — a reasonable medical judgment — to a subjective standard — a good faith belief.
Duane argued that the medical standard for when someone can access an abortion in an medical emergency is a live issue, playing out in a different case before the Texas Supreme Court that Duane is also an attorney for. The case involves 20 Texas women, including a Fort Worth native, who are suing the state over its abortion laws after being denied abortions.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
