Don’t mess with Texas (women)
This week the Texas Supreme Court heard a case brought by 20 women denied emergency care under the state’s radical abortion ban (Texas Tribune):
In August, state District Judge Jessica Mangrum ruled that the near-total abortion ban cannot be enforced in cases involving complicated pregnancies, including lethal fetal diagnoses. The state immediately appealed that ruling, putting it on hold.
Texas law allows abortions only when it is necessary to save the life of the pregnant patient. But this lawsuit, filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights in March, claims that doctors are unsure when the medical exception applies, resulting in delayed or denied care.
“No one knows what [the exception] means and the state won’t tell us,” Molly Duane, senior attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the justices Tuesday.
The state argues the judge went too far in her injunction by reading exceptions into the law beyond what the Legislature intended.
Plaintiff Taylor Edwards and Duane spoke to PBS about the suit.
The penalties for doctors who perform abortions outside the ban’s restrictions “could not be more extreme,” Duane said:
We are talking about life in prison, loss of medical license, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in civil fines. So, quite understandably, physicians are terrified. They don’t know when or how close to death a patient needs to be before they can provide abortion care. And they have been begging the Texas Medical Board and the rest of the state for guidance for years.
And it has fallen on deaf ears. So here we are. We came to court. Courts are places that can vindicate constitutional rights, and Taylor has constitutional rights, just like everyone else in Texas.
PBS asked Duane to comment on the state’s position in light of those severe penalties for doctors:
Beth Klusmann, Texas Assistant Attorney General:
If, as she said, a woman is bleeding or has amniotic fluid running down her legs, then the problem is not with the law. That is with the doctors. I mean, that woman clearly would qualify for medical emergency exception.
And so if she has to come to court to make that happen, that is not the state’s fault.
Geoff Bennett:
So, Molly, what’s your response to that argument?
Molly Duane:
Well, my response is that the state has been saying over and over again the exception is clear, yet they have never once told us what they think the exception means.
In fact, contrary to what they said today, they have made every attempt to show that amniotic fluid does in fact need to be running down a patient’s leg before they can come to court.
What Taylor said that her doctor said to her is verbatim what I have heard from every single one of my clients, which is, my doctor said that her hands were tied. And who tied them? It was the state of Texas.
Beto O’Rourke spotlighted some of the women’s stories Wednesday night:
Texas Republicans forced these women to continue dangerous, nonviable pregnancies that almost killed them.
I hope you’ll read their stories, and then commit to the work of overturning Texas’ extreme abortion ban🧵:
These women are sharing their stories so that we understand the true cost of the total abortion ban in Texas.
My hope is that their courage in coming forward will be matched by our resolve to change the laws so that this never happens again.
With a year before the ‘24 elections that will decide our state’s future, it’s time for each of us to decide what we’re willing to do.
There are millions of pro-choice Texans who aren’t registered to vote. Getting them on the rolls would have a seismic impact on these elections.
This is and needs to be a major issue in 2024, as it was in 2022 when President Joe Biden said this: