Kate Cox, an American whose pregnancy appears to be very risky and who demanded an abortion in Texas, where elective abortion (IVG) is banned with rare exceptions, had to leave that conservative state to have an emergency abortion. his lawyers announced on Monday, December 11th. “This week of legal uncertainty has been hell for Kate,” Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, the organization that filed the lawsuit on her behalf, said in a statement.
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“Your health is at stake. She went to the emergency room several times and couldn’t wait any longer,” she added. Kate Cox, a 31-year-old Texan and approximately twenty-first weeks pregnant, recently received confirmation that her fetus had trisomy 18, a chromosomal abnormality associated with severe birth defects. There is a risk of dying in the womb, and even if the pregnancy comes to term, there is a high chance that the baby will be stillborn or die a few days later.
According to her doctor, this pregnancy also puts Ms. Cox's health and fertility at risk. However, due to anti-abortion laws in Texas, she was denied an abortion and her doctors told her that her “hands were tied,” according to her complaint.
“Protect your health and future fertility”
The young woman therefore submitted an application to be allowed to have an abortion in her state. A judge granted his request last week, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed to the state Supreme Court to overturn her decision. That's what the Supreme Court did on Friday, blocking Ms. Cox from getting an abortion in Texas.
“After a week of legal rollercoasters and threats of criminal prosecution from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, our client Kate Cox was forced to leave her home state of Texas to obtain the urgent abortion she needed to protect her health and future fertility,” said the Center for Reproductive Rights.
This case highlights the headaches patients and doctors have faced since the Supreme Court struck down the federal abortion guarantee in June 2022, resulting in several American states restricting or even banning abortions. Since then, many American women have been forced to make arduous and expensive journeys to obtain an abortion.
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