Under Texas’ Abortion Ban, Where a Pregnant Woman Lives Can Determine Her Risk of Developing Sepsis

POLITICO - by Kavitha Surana, Lizzie Presser and Andrea Suozzo
May 7, 2025

Nearly four years ago in Texas, the state’s new abortion law started getting in the way of basic miscarriage care: As women waited in hospitals cramping, fluid running down their legs, doctors told them they couldn’t empty their uterus to guard against deadly complications.

The state banned most abortions, even in pregnancies that were no longer viable; then, it added criminal penalties, threatening to imprison doctors for life and punish hospitals. The law had one exception, for a life-threatening emergency.

Continued: https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-abortion-ban-sepsis-rates-dallas-houston

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

‘I Cried for Joy’: Texas Judge Blocks Texas Abortion Ban for Dangerous Pregnancies

While the Texas Supreme Court instantly blocked the injunction by filing an appeal, it was seen as a victory by reproductive rights advocates.

OLIVIA ROSANE
Aug 05, 2023

In what The Associated Press reports is the first legal pushback since an abortion ban took effect in Texas in 2022, State District Judge Jessica Mangrum issued a temporary injunction against the ban late Friday afternoon in the case of unsafe pregnancies.

While the Texas Supreme Court instantly blocked the injunction by filing an appeal, it was seen as a victory by reproductive rights advocates.

"For the first time in a long time, I cried for joy when I heard the news," lead plaintiff Amanda Zurawski said in a statement. "This is exactly why we did this."

Continued: https://www.commondreams.org/news/texas-judge-blocks-abortion-ban

05.08.2023

News

Amanda Zurawski

Center for Reproductive Rights

Zurawski v. State of Texas

TESTIFYING AGAINST TEXAS, WOMEN DENIED ABORTIONS RELIVE THE PREGNANCIES THAT ALMOST KILLED THEM

One plaintiff vomited while recounting her ordeal. The case marks the first time patients denied abortions have sued a state since Roe was overturned.

Mary Tuma
July 21 2023

WHEN SAMANTHA CASIANO learned she was pregnant last year, she and her husband felt excitement. The 29-year-old mother of four and lifelong Texas resident began collecting baby toys and a bassinet for her fifth child. During a routine ultrasound at 20 weeks, she was chatting up the technician when the room suddenly grew silent. Casiano’s doctor delivered grim news: Her baby had anencephaly, a lethal condition in which the skull and brain fail to develop.

“My first thought was, maybe surgery can fix this, but I was told, ‘Sorry, your daughter is incompatible with life, she will be born without a skull,’” Casiano said in a Texas district court hearing on Wednesday. “She was going to die inside or outside of my womb.”

Continued: https://theintercept.com/2023/07/21/texas-abortion-zurawski-lawsuit/

Doctors testify about confusion surrounding Texas’ abortion bans

Doctors testified as part of a hearing for a preliminary injunction on the bans.

By Nadine El-Bawab
Video by Jessie DiMartino
July 20, 2023

On the second day of a hearing over a lawsuit filed against the state of Texas, physicians who practice medicine outside the state testified on Thursday that Texas' abortion laws are confusing and would make it difficult to provide necessary care to patients.

They were joined by a physician in Texas who was pregnant herself and delivered emotional testimony about having to go out of the state to get an abortion.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/doctors-testify-confusion-surrounding-texas-abortion-bans/story?id=101521408

Women suing Texas over abortion bans give emotional testimony

The fifth woman's testimony will be heard on Thursday.

By Nadine El-Bawab and Mary Kekatos
July 19, 2023
Four plaintiffs began the first day of testimony Wednesday as part of a lawsuit filed against the state of Texas, saying the state's abortion bans put their lives in jeopardy.

The women are some of the 15 individuals party to the lawsuit who have alleged they were denied lifesaving emergency care due to Texas' abortion laws.

Lawyers representing the women are seeking a preliminary injunction on Texas' abortion laws that would allow for lifesaving abortions. They are asking the court to provide a "remedy applied to patients whose life, health or fertility is at risk from an emergent medical condition," Molly Duane, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights and lead attorney on the case, said during opening statements Wednesday.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/women-suing-texas-abortion-bans-court-testify/story?id=101487004

Denied abortion for a doomed pregnancy, she tells Texas court: ‘There was no mercy’

July 19, 2023
Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR

AUSTIN, Texas – Samantha Casiano, who gave birth to a baby who lived just four hours, broke down and became physically ill on the witness stand as she told the story of her doomed pregnancy in an Austin, Texas, courtroom on Wednesday. Her husband, Luis Villasana, rushed to the front of the courtroom to help her, during a hearing in a case challenging the abortion bans in Texas.

Casiano was one of three women who gave dramatic testimony about their pregnancies in the case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The case, on behalf of 13 patients and two doctors, argues that the medical exceptions to Texas' laws are unclear and unworkable for doctors in ways that harm patients and that the state has done nothing to clarify its laws.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/07/19/1188828153/denied-abortion-for-a-doomed-pregnancy-she-tells-texas-court-there-was-no-mercy

8 women join suit against Texas over abortion bans, claim their lives were put in danger

The original lawsuit was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights in March.

By Nadine El-Bawab
May 22, 2023

The Center for Reproductive Rights is expected to add eight more women to a lawsuit it filed against Texas over its abortion ban, claiming their lives were put at risk due to the law. This brings the total number of plaintiffs to 15.

The suit alleged that Texas' abortion bans have denied the plaintiffs and countless other pregnant people necessary and potentially life-saving medical care because physicians in the state fear liability, according to a draft of the complaint shared with ABC News.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/8-women-join-suit-texas-abortion-bans-claim/story?id=99480988

The doctors suing Texas over abortion access

By SYDNEY GOLD, Politico
03/17/2023

Last year, Dr. Judy Levison, an OBGYN in Houston, was offering routine counseling to a pregnant patient about screenings, explaining how she could check for spinal cord or chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus. She told her patient that while not everyone wants to know about abnormalities in their pregnancy, others do in case they’ll need to prepare for any health issues or, depending on the prognosis, even end the pregnancy.

“As I got to the word ‘abortion,’ you know, ending a pregnancy, I suddenly stopped and said, ‘Oh my, I can’t offer abortion anymore, and my patients tend to be low income, and going out of state is really not an option,’” said Levison. “I suddenly felt like somebody had literally tied my hands behind my back.” Levison ultimately decided to stop seeing patients after nearly 40 years in practice, citing Dobbs as a contributing factor.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/women-rule/2023/03/17/the-doctors-suing-texas-over-abortion-access-00087608

17.03.2023