The Texas Supreme Court is hearing a case Tuesday related to laws regulating abortion in the state.
Twenty women and two doctors sued Texas over its near-abortion ban, claiming it puts the women’s lives at risk. The lawsuit is challenging SB 8, a law that bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is roughly around six weeks gestation. There is, however, an exception to the restriction when a woman’s life is in danger.
The plaintiffs claim the law still puts their lives at risk because it allegedly limits treatments to pregnancy complications, such as miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies. Nick Kabat, an attorney for the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights, claimed women were being denied care as a result of the law.
“We have seen and heard about women who have been denied abortions in medical emergencies, going back to September 2021. So we filed the case in March, but the story really goes back to September 2021,” Kabat told WFAA. “These are only a slice of the cases that are occurring in Texas where women are being denied abortions in medical emergencies.”
Anti-abortion activists counter that abortion restrictions in Texas and other states have measures in place to ensure women receive care after complications with their pregnancies. Individual instances of denied treatment, they claim, are a result of medical malpractice, not potential legal ramifications.
“While some laws contain definitions and exceptions that more explicitly speak to certain situations, each law reviewed does not prevent mothers from receiving the medical care necessary,” an analysis of abortion restriction laws from the Charlotte Lozier Institute states. “A plain reading of any of these statutes easily refutes the false and dangerous misinformation being spread by pro-abortion activists.”
“Further, none of the laws reviewed prohibit a medical professional from acting as necessary when facing a life-threatening medical emergency; therefore, under these laws, medical professionals can exercise reasonable medical judgment and, as outlined by the [American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists] guidance, are not required to delay necessary care and treatment to a mother,” the analysis continued.
State district court judge Jessica Mangrum granted additional exemptions to Texas abortion restrictions earlier this year, which was then appealed by Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Tuesday hearing will consider whether or not to maintain this injunction as the litigation continues.
