The Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected a challenge to the state’s abortion ban — a response to a lawsuit filed last year by a group of women with serious pregnancy complications.
The decision of nine judges, all Republicans, was unanimous.
Five the women filed a lawsuit in March 2023, saying they refused abortions even if life-threatening problems arose during their pregnancies. The case involved 20 women and two doctors.
The plaintiffs sought not to overturn the ban, but rather to clarify and force transparency as to the precise circumstances in which exceptions are allowed. They also wanted more discretion for doctors to intervene when medical complications arise in pregnancy.
The lead plaintiff, Amanda Zurawski, told NBC News on Friday that she was outraged by the verdict.
“It’s heartbreaking that the Texas Supreme Court today made it clear that they are unwilling to help pregnant Texans. They don’t want to clear things up for doctors in the state of Texas,” Zurawski said. “They had an opportunity to improve things, but they didn’t. As a result, people will continue to suffer.”
Another plaintiff, Samantha Casiano, whose fetus was diagnosed with anencephaly, also expressed anger and disappointment.
“I was told that my child would not survive, but I had to carry on with the pregnancy and give birth anyway, then watch him die hours later.” “I don’t know how the court heard what I went through and chose not to do anything… I’m ashamed to be a Texan because of these inhumane laws.”
Texas law prohibits all abortions except to save the life of the mother. Doctors who violate it can lose their medical licenses, face up to 99 years in prison or a fine of at least $100,000. Critics of the ban, one of the most restrictive in the United States, said it did not provide enough guidance on what exemptions were allowed.
However, Friday’s ruling provided new clarity. The ruling confirms that premature rupture of membranes – when the amniotic sac ruptures before the 37th week of pregnancy – can result in an abortion because it results in infection.
But Texas law “expressly disallows abortion based solely on a diagnosis that the unborn child has an abnormal, or even life-limiting, condition,” the ruling said.
The decision also said that Texas’ abortion ban does not require a woman’s death to require a doctor to perform an abortion because of a life-threatening complication, and even if not all doctors agree, a doctor’s decision can be reasonable.
“For doctors who violate the abortion ban, the state must prove that no reasonable position would have led to the conclusion that the patient would have qualified for the exception,” Molly Duane, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said after a press conference. decision was made. Duane is a senior attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy organization that represents plaintiffs.
In the summer of last year, the judge of the district court hearing the Zurawski case a temporary injunctionIt prevents Texas from enforcing a ban on doctors who terminate pregnancies because of dangerous complications.
“The Court finds that there is uncertainty as to whether the medical exception to Texas’ abortion bans … permits a physician to provide abortion care where, based on the physician’s good faith judgment and in consultation with the pregnant person, the pregnant person has a physical emergency. situation,” the decision says.
But the Texas Supreme Court disagreed. Duane said Friday’s ruling closes the door on many of the lawsuit’s central claims.
“Our team needs time to determine what remains of our original claim,” he said.
Zurawski v. Texas was the first legal challenge to the state’s bans, which specifically targeted women with complicated pregnancies.
Zurawski said In August 2022, she nearly died after doctors delayed giving her a medically necessary abortion after suffering catastrophic complications when she was 18 weeks pregnant. After her health deteriorated, doctors performed an abortion. He later developed sepsis and spent three days in the intensive care unit, he said.
Zurawski’s doctors later advised her not to have any more children. So she and her husband turned to in vitro fertilization and wanted to have a baby through a surrogate.
Casiano detailed his experience at a hearing last summer. At 20 weeks pregnant, she said she learned her baby was in critical condition with parts of his brain and skull missing. Casiano said the problem also put his life at risk. He sobbed and vomited on the stand prompts the referee to call a time-out while describing the events. Casiano said that she suffered emotional trauma during her pregnancy.
John Seago, president of the anti-abortion Texas Legal Group, told NBC News that state law is clear about when an abortion is warranted, and the confusion among doctors is “not the law’s fault.”
“It’s a fault in the implementation, in the education of the doctors, in making sure that the lawyers in the hospitals and the ethics committees in those hospitals know what the law is,” he said.
Seago said his group is working with the Texas Medical Board to educate doctors about what is legal.
“Having some women whose lives are in danger is the exact opposite of the intent of these laws,” she said.
Friday’s decision by the Texas Supreme Court follows a decision in December that directed a lower court to overturn a ruling that blocked the state’s abortion ban in the United States. Kate Cox work.
Cox sued the state after her developing fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 18. a rare chromosomal disorder This significantly increases the risk of stillbirth or infant death shortly after birth. She sought a court order to allow the termination of the pregnancy.
Cox’s attorneys said her doctor determined that carrying the pregnancy would put her health and ability to have future children at risk. Just before The Texas Supreme Court ruled against himCox left the state to have an abortion.