A Texas judge said she will grant a temporary restraining order allowing a pregnant woman to get an abortion, during an emergency hearing Thursday.
Cox v. Texas marked the first case in which a woman directly petitioned the state to allow an abortion to proceed since Texas banned abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned. The Center for Reproductive Rights filed the suit Tuesday on behalf of Kate Cox, a pregnant woman from the Dallas-Fort Worth Area.
According to the filing, Cox's fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 18, a condition that is usually fatal. Based on ultrasounds and testing, doctors said her pregnancy was likely to end in miscarriage or stillbirth, with the baby surviving a few days at most. Doctors also said delivery would be dangerous for Cox, and her ability to carry future pregnancies would be jeopardized.
Under Texas’ three overlapping abortion bans, an emergency medical abortion is permitted only in cases where a “life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy” “places the woman in danger of death or a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function.”
In an emergency hearing that lasted around a half hour, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County’s 459th District Court heard arguments from Cox’s lawyers and from state attorneys. Gamble was unmoved by state attorney Johnathan Stone’s arguments that Cox’s condition did not meet the standard for an emergency medical abortion.
"The idea that Miss Cox wants desperately to be a parent, and this law might actually cause her to lose that ability is shocking, and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice," Gamble said.
Gamble said she would send out a signed order Thursday.
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