‘Stunning’ threat in Texas abortion case steps up Paxton criminalization crusade

State attorney general threatened to prosecute doctors if they provided abortion care to a woman with a nonviable pregnancy

Mary Tuma
Tue 12 Dec 2023

When a Texas court ruled that a 31-year-old woman with a non-viable pregnancy could have an abortion despite the state’s strict bans, the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, responded with a brazen threat to prosecute “hospitals, doctors, or anyone else” who would assist in providing the procedure. The letter he sent Texas hospitals hours after the ruling, threatening first-degree felonies that could result in life in prison, was a “stunning” move indicative of his longstanding crusade to criminalize abortion care, say legal experts and advocates.

“It is extraordinary that Paxton would threaten hospitals and doctors with this letter before even winning an appeal,” Mary Ziegler, a UC-Davis law professor who focuses on reproductive rights, told the Guardian. “It’s a very unusual maneuver, but does certainly reflect his ultimate goal of wanting to go after abortion providers and supporters at all costs.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/12/texas-abortion-ken-paxton-kate-cox

Texas Supreme Court rules against woman who sought abortion hours after she says she’ll travel out of state

A state district judge granted the request last week, but the Texas Supreme Court directed the lower court to vacate its order Monday.

Dec. 11, 2023
By Daniella Silva and Aria Bendix

A Texas woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis and who was awaiting a decision from the Texas Supreme Court about whether she would be allowed to get an abortion said Monday that she has decided to leave Texas to get the procedure.

Kate Cox, a mother of two who is around 20 weeks pregnant, found out just after Thanksgiving that her developing fetus has trisomy 18, a fatal diagnosis. Seeking to terminate the pregnancy to protect her health and future fertility, she and her husband sought a court order to block Texas’ abortion bans from applying in her case.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-woman-sought-abortion-court-order-leave-state-rcna129087

Pregnant Texas woman granted abortion calls legal fight ‘overwhelming’

BY NICK ROBERTSON
12/09/23

The Texas woman at the center of a legal fight over whether she can receive emergency abortion care called the stresses of the controversy “overwhelming.”

Kate Cox was granted an exemption to Texas’ strict abortion laws on Thursday because her fetus has a fatal chromosomal disorder. But, the state Supreme Court paused the order on Friday after it was criticized and challenged by Attorney General Ken Paxton (R).

Continued: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4351846-pregnant-texas-woman-abortion-legal-fight-overwhelming/

Outrage as Texas Supreme Court Halts Kate Cox’s Abortion

Dec 09, 2023
By Sean O'Driscoll

Legal commentators have reacted with outrage after the Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked a pregnant woman from obtaining an emergency abortion.

The court's ruling has blocked a district court's decision to allow Kate Cox to abort a fetus that has a fatal trisomy 18 genetic defect, also known as Edwards' syndrome. Most babies with the defect will die before or shortly after being born.

Continued: https://www.newsweek.com/outrage-texas-supreme-court-kate-cox-abortion-1850981

Texas supreme court temporarily blocks woman from abortion for non-viable pregnancy

Dallas woman was earlier allowed abortion by judge, even as state attorney general threatened to sue doctors who perform procedure

Richard Luscombe and agencies, The Guardian
Sat 9 Dec 2023

The Texas supreme court stepped in late on Friday to temporarily stay a judge’s ruling approving an abortion for a woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis, the latest development in a protracted legal wrangle over one of the most restrictive bans in the nation.

Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two from Dallas, had been granted a temporary restraining order from a lower court on Thursday, allowing her to proceed with an emergency procedure at 20 weeks.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/09/texas-supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-woman-from-abortion-for-non-viable-pregnancy

Texas Is Still Targeting Kate Cox After Her Historic Abortion Win

BY MARY ZIEGLER
DEC 08, 2023

Before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, states required minors seeking abortion without the involvement of their parents to seek a court order. Today, after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Woman’s Health Organization, an adult woman had to do the same thing, even when her life and fertility were at risk. While a judge ruled in her favor on Thursday, issuing a temporary restraining order granting her doctor the right to perform the procedure without facing penalties, the state of Texas is still determined to stop her.

Kate Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant with her third child, learned that her child had full trisomy 18, a genetic condition that is almost always fatal in utero or the first year after birth. Physicians warned her that continuing the pregnancy put her at high risk of developing gestational diabetes and hypertension—and that a third Cesarean section might also deprive Cox of the ability to have another child. Her physician nevertheless turned away her request for an abortion, concerned about “the loss of her medical license, life in prison, and massive civil fines.”

Continued: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/12/texas-targeting-kate-cox-historic-abortion.html

Texas attorney general says he will sue doctor who gives abortion to Kate Cox

Ken Paxton issues threat after judge ruled this week that Cox, a pregnant woman with a lethal fetal diagnosis, can get an abortion

Ava Sasani
Fri 8 Dec 2023

The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has threatened to prosecute any doctor who provides an abortion to Kate Cox, a woman with a non-viable pregnancy, advising hospitals to ignore a court order issued on Thursday allowing her to get the procedure.

The rightwing Paxton issued the warning to three Houston-area hospitals after a Texas judge ruled this week that Cox, a pregnant woman with a lethal fetal diagnosis, may obtain an abortion under the narrow medical exceptions offered by the state bans.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/08/ken-paxton-texas-abortion-kate-cox

A Texas judge ruled a pregnant woman who sued the state seeking an abortion can legally terminate her pregnancy

By Ashley Killough, Ed Lavandera and Andy Rose, CNN
Thu December 7, 2023

…After the ruling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton warned Cox’s physician she could still face civil and criminal penalties at some point should she perform the court-ordered procedure.

… Molly Duane, Cox’s attorney, … said the fight is far from over, as the ruling only applies to Cox and does not “restore access” to abortion to thousands of other women. She called the state’s argument “callous in the extreme,” and said “they don’t care whether people live or die as long as they’re forced to give birth.”

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/07/us/texas-abortion-ruling/index.html

Ken Paxton’s latest Texas abortion argument is a breathtaking abdication

If Texans lose their children, their fertility, or even their lives, it’s simply not Texas’ problem.

Nov. 29, 2023
By Andrea Grimes, journalist and activist

“There’s gonna be some hard calls.” That’s how a lawyer with the Texas Attorney General’s office callously shrugged off the question of how, and indeed whether, doctors are allowed to save the lives of pregnant women during a hearing at the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s hearing put the state’s disregard for its own responsibility to protect and defend “life” in devastating relief.

Continued: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/texas-abortion-ban-supreme-court-ken-paxton-rcna127147

Texas Supreme Court to hear case on state abortion laws and pregnancy complications

NOVEMBER 26, 2023
By Sarah McCammon, Selena Simmons-Duffin
7-Minute Listen

The Texas Supreme Court will hear a case this week brought by women who say the state's abortion laws are harming them.

SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
This week, the Texas Supreme Court will consider this question. Are the state's abortion laws harming women when they face pregnancy complications? The case posing that question was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is fiercely defending the state's current abortion laws. Here to talk about it is NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin. Hi, Selena.
Continued: https://www.npr.org/2023/11/26/1215227706/texas-supreme-court-to-hear-case-on-state-abortion-laws-and-pregnancy-complicati