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UPDATE, 5:40 P.M.: The Texas Supreme Court issued a ruling this evening stating that the trial court judge erred in issuing an order effectively granting Cox permission to have an abortion without traveling out of state. The Supreme Court vacated a lower court’s temporary restraining order that attempted preempt potential criminal and civil charges against Cox and her medical providers if she received an abortion in Texas. You can read the latest ruling at the bottom of the story.
Kate Cox, the Dallas woman seeking permission from the state to have an abortion, will leave Texas in order to receive the procedure, according to her legal representation. The decision comes just over two days after the Texas Supreme Court halted a lower court’s ruling from Thursday, Dec. 7, that would’ve allowed Cox to have the abortion at a Houston hospital. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who had sent a letter threatening legal action against any hospital or doctor who performed the abortion, asked the high court to intervene.
Cox opted to end her pregnancy after her doctors recently confirmed a fatal diagnosis of full trisomy 18 for her fetus. Also known as Edwards syndrome, full trisomy 18 is caused by a duplicate chromosome that results in multiple structural problems including heart defects, brain abnormalities and musculoskeletal troubles.
Cox has two children currently and hopes to have more in the future.
Kate Cox
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Cox’s doctors have warned her that since she has already given birth twice by cesarean section, carrying her 21-week pregnancy to term and giving birth by C-section again could harm her health and future fertility. Cox and her representatives say this means that she fits into the state’s narrow medical exemption realm for abortions, but Paxton says it does not.
“This past week of legal limbo has been hellish for Kate,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights, wrote in a statement. “Her health is on the line. She’s been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn’t wait any longer. This is why judges and politicians should not be making healthcare decisions for pregnant people – they are not doctors. This is the result of the [U.S.] Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade: women are forced to beg for urgent healthcare in court. Kate’s case has shown the world that abortion bans are dangerous for pregnant people, and exceptions don’t work.”
A spokesperson for the Center for Reproductive Rights declined to say whether Cox has already had the abortion or where she is planning to have it if she has not already done so.
Gilberto Hinojosa, chair of the Texas Democratic Party, said that “MAGA extremist Republicans are to blame” for Cox’s decision to flee Texas, while pointing the finger at one notable GOP member in particular.
“We must never forget that Ken Paxton, the Texas Supreme Court and Texas Republicans fought to force her to carry a nonviable fetus to full term at the risk of her own life,” Hinojosa said. “Medical decisions should be between patients and doctors, but here in Texas, Ken Paxton can make your medical decisions for you – even if that means your life is on the line.”
