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A Texas judge on Thursday granted the request of a pregnant woman—who was diagnosed with a nonviable pregnancy that has sent her to the emergency room four times—to undergo an abortion. The ruling came in spite of Texas’s near-total ban on the medical procedure, and while obviously welcome news for the woman in question, underscores the living hell that is Texas and other states that think they should get to decide what happens to pregnant people’s bodies.
Siding with the woman, Kate Cox, who argued the procedure is necessary to preserve future fertility and protect her from undergoing a potentially dangerous birth, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble said, “The idea that Ms. Cox wants desperately to be pregnant, and this law might actually cause her to lose that ability, is shocking, and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice. So I will be signing the order, and it will be processed and sent out today.” Cox, a married mother of two who said in an interview that she and her husband want a large family, was told by doctors that her fetus had a genetic condition that almost always leads to miscarriage, stillbirth, or the child dying within one year. Her attorneys told the judge that despite this—and the fact that pain and discharge had sent her to the emergency room numerous times—her doctors had told her state law dictated she had to continue the pregnancy.
Despite Guerra Gamble making clear that her order protects Cox’s doctor and anyone else at the hospital who might be involved in the procedure, Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter to hospital officials in Houston following the ruling saying Cox’s doctor and the hospital staff may still face criminal and civil penalties. “The T.R.O. will not insulate you, or anyone else,” Paxton, an evil little man, added that the order would expire “long before the statute of limitations for violating Texas’ abortion laws expires.” (Doctors convicted of performing an illegal abortion in the state face up to 99 years and fines of at least $100,000.)
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, more than a dozen states have outright banned or significantly restricted the procedure. The man responsible for Roe being gutted is currently the front-runner for the GOP nomination.
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