Texas Supreme Court rules against women who sought clarification of abortion ban

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition by women who sought clarification about the state’s strict abortion ban.

In the unanimous decision, the court said that the existing medical exceptions to the ban were broad enough to withstand a constitutional challenge. A group of women who were denied abortions by the state filed the lawsuit in Marchand argued that because the language of the prohibition regarding medical exceptions is unclear, they were denied vital care while pregnant.

Texas bans abortions at about six weeks, with a limited medical exception for a pregnancy that threatens the mother’s life or risks harming a major bodily function.

The state high court ruled that “the law does not require that a woman’s death be imminent or that she first suffer a physical disability” and said that “Texas law allows a doctor to deal with the risk that a life-threatening condition life represents before a woman suffers the consequences of this risk.”

The ruling said the plaintiffs are “simply wrong in the legal assessment” that a doctor would then say “but the law does not permit me to perform an abortion in these circumstances.”

Texas doctors face severe penalties for performing an abortion that does not meet medical exception criteria – fines of at least $100,000 and up to 99 years in prison. Additionally, anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion is subject to a minimum fine of $10,000, which can be levied by anyone under an unusual law. application mechanism.

The main author, Amanda Zurawski, who has since become Biden’s campaign surrogate, said in a statement Friday that she was “outraged” by the decision. “Every day, people in Texas are told they have no options,” she said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtonwho challenged the lawsuit, said in a statement that he “will continue to uphold 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.”

Zurawski v.

The case, Zurawski v. Texas, was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of at least 20 women who suffered medical emergencies and two doctors and was the most significant legal challenge to the state’s strict abortion ban.

A Travis County judge has ruled that women who experience pregnancy complications are exempt from the state’s abortion ban, resulting in a preliminary injunction on the law. Paxton’s office appealed the decision to the all-Republican state Supreme Court, which lifted the injunction.

On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s ruling, saying it “departed from the law as written without constitutional justification.” The decision was unanimous, but Justice Brett Busby issued a concurring opinion that left the door open for a broader challenge to the law.

The lawsuit was not filed to overturn the Texas law, but rather to seek clarification on what qualifies as a medical exemption. It was believed to be the first challenge to the abortion ban since the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs Decisionwhich overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade who established the federal right to abortion.

The court said Zurawski was incorrectly denied an abortion when her water broke when she was 17 weeks pregnant and the fetus still had a heartbeat. Zurawski was sent home, but doctors performed the abortion days later after she went into septic shock. The infection caused one of her fallopian tubes to close, making it difficult to conceive.

“Ms. Zurawski’s agonizing wait to become ‘sufficiently’ sick for induction, the development of sepsis, and her permanent physical injury are not the outcomes the law mandates,” the decision said. Furthermore, the ruling said that “the law does not require a woman to give up her life or first suffer serious bodily harm before an abortion can be performed.”

The ruling also noted that in the last legislative session, the Texas Legislature amended the law to “clearly indicate that a doctor who performs an abortion in response to a diagnosis” like the one Zurawski suffered “is not liable.”

Although the Legislature changed the law and gave doctors a legal defense, abortion rights advocates say it did not sufficiently clarify the law.

Last year, Zurawski gave harrowing testimony to two other women who were denied abortions in Texas, along with a doctor and two medical experts.

Other Abortion Cases in Texas

In November 2023, Kate Cox filed an emergency lawsuit seeking an injunction to the law when she discovered that her pregnancy was “unlikely to end with a healthy baby” and, due to two previous C-sections, continuing the pregnancy put her at risk of serious complications. that threatened “his life and future fertility”.

An Austin judge ruled that Cox could terminate her pregnancy, but the decision was stayed after Paxton appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court. Cox, who was 20 weeks pregnant at the time of the lawsuit, ended up leaving the state to have an abortion.

Following a petition from Austin-area lobbyists, the Texas Medical Board is considering proposed guidelines on how to investigate complaints about banned abortions. The agency is currently considering public comments ahead of its planned June meeting where the issue could be decided.