Monday marks the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right. It’s a somber day for Texans who support the freedom to choose.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe in June 2022, and in spite of the state's strict abortion bans, a North Texas woman has unwittingly become the face of the resistance.
President Joe Biden posted a video to X highlighting the case of 31-year-old Kate Cox, a Dallas-area mother of two who learned that the fetus she was carrying would almost certainly not survive after birth. Cox was at the center of a lawsuit that put Texas’ abortion legislation to the test, but she ultimately had to flee the state to receive the procedure because of her deteriorating health.
Donald Trump ended Roe v. Wade.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 22, 2024
And women across America are living with the consequences. pic.twitter.com/A02vUuuJBv
The Biden administration’s video commemorating Roe v. Wade shows former President Donald Trump bragging about getting the landmark case “terminated.” He added that he was “proud to have done it.”
Images of Cox then flash on the screen. In a picture, she grins and rests a hand on her baby bump. In a video clip, she wipes away tears as a newscaster explains that Texas’ Supreme Court ruled that Cox couldn’t receive the abortion she’d sought.
The video features another Texan, Amanda Zurawski, a plaintiff in a different lawsuit that seeks to clarify the medical emergency exemption in the state's abortion legislation.
“I cannot adequately put into words the trauma and despair that comes with waiting to either lose your own life, your child's life, or both,” Zurawski said during a press conference last year.
Biden’s video ends with a simple message: “Protect abortion rights.”
RELEASE: Texas Democrats Issue Statement on the 51st Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Decision
— Texas Democrats (@texasdemocrats) January 22, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/gXlga73Pm2 pic.twitter.com/jUwrNj1pig
The Texas Democratic Party issued a press release Monday morning looking back on the Roe v. Wade decision. Party leaders railed against Republican politicians’ “cruelty” against women in Texas and elsewhere in the country.
Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said that Roe would still be in place if Trump hadn’t been elected to the White House. He sounded the alarm about what another Trump presidency could mean, citing fears of a nationwide abortion ban.
“Right now, Texas women are living an all-American nightmare,” Hinojosa said in a statement. “Medical decisions should be between patients and doctors but here in Texas, Republicans like Ken Paxton and Ted Cruz can make your medical decisions for you — even if that means your life's on the line.”
Make no mistake: as your Senator, I will fight to codify Roe.
— Colin Allred (@ColinAllredTX) January 22, 2024
U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a Dallas Democrat, is also decrying Republicans’ successful attempts to strip women of the right to make life-altering choices about their bodies. Now that Roe has been overturned, it means that Texas girls have fewer freedoms than their moms and grandmothers, wrote Allred, who’s running to unseat Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate.
“These personal decisions are not being made by women and their doctors but by lawyers, judges and politicians like Ted Cruz,” Allred added. “Make no mistake: as your Senator, I will fight to codify Roe.”
