President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden extended a State of the Union invitation to the Texas woman who lost a lawsuit against the state over her attempt to get an abortion.
Katie Cox, 31, failed to obtain an exception to Texas’ abortion ban last month after being denied one by the state’s highest court, which ruled she was unable to prove the pregnancy put her life in danger. Cox was about 20 weeks pregnant with a fetus diagnosed with trisomy 18, a rare chromosomal disorder. She later obtained an abortion out of state.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said on Wednesday that Cox accepted the invitation to the March 7 State of the Union address at the Capitol. She will sit with the first lady.
“They thanked her for her courage in sharing her story and speaking out against the impact of the extreme abortion ban in Texas,” Jean-Pierre said of the Bidens, per NBC 5 DFW.
The Texas abortion ban that went into effect after the overturn of Roe v. Wade allows for exceptions when a woman has a “life-threatening” condition or “serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function” as a result of her pregnancy. Doctors performed 40 abortions in Texas between January and September of last year that met the exception criteria, according to data from Texas Health and Human Services.
Trisomy 18 results in a miscarriage or stillbirth in about 95% of cases. About 90% of babies born with the disorder die within a year, with roughly half dying within a week. However, some born with the disorder have lived into their adult years.
Cox claimed in her lawsuit against Texas that a continuation of her pregnancy could put her at risk of medical complications, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. She noted her previous two children were delivered via C-section. A third C-section, she argued, could pose a threat to her health.
The Texas Supreme Court decision against Cox sparked national media coverage and debates over the state’s abortion ban. Two attorneys in the state petitioned the Texas Medical Board this month to specify in what circumstances exceptions can be granted, as reported by The Dallas Express. Jeanne Mancini, the president of March for Life, said she would like to see additional legislation passed to clarify the legal exceptions.
“I’d be interested in a specific law related to the exceptions,” Mancini told The Dallas Express at the 51st annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. “At the March for Life, we sometimes endorse laws with exceptions in them, but that’s because sometimes you have to go with an imperfect law to save lives.”
Biden’s State of the Union invitation to Cox is not his first attempt to take a swipe at Texas for its abortion ban. A campaign ad released Monday misrepresents the law, as first reported by The Daily Wire. The ad details the story of a Texas woman who got an abortion out of state after the fetus was diagnosed with anencephaly. The woman claimed in the ad that the Texas abortion ban put her “life at risk,” however, this claim has been contradicted by medical research and her own lawsuit against the state.