From Jane Roe To Kate Cox; Texas And Its Unending Battle Of Ban On Abortion (image @pixabay)
Texas is well known for its strict laws. Supreme Court of the country has now reversed the abortion law. Texas and its fight regarding the banning of abortion have a long-rooted history. The state that lies at the south of United States banned abortion since 1971.
In 1971, Norma McCorvey, who is known as Jane Roe filed a case against the district attorney of Dallas County, Henry Wade, who has enforced the law that prohibited abortion under all circumstances, except to save woman’s life.
In 1973, the US Supreme Court assured the legality of a woman’s right to have an abortion under the light of right to privacy that comes under the fourteenth amendment of the constitution.
In 2003, Norma McCorvey again filed a case with the federal district court of Dallas to overturn the case by pointing that abortion could hurt woman. She provided 1,000 affidavits from women who said they regretted their abortions.
In 2004, a three judge-panel of the US Circuit Courts of Appeals in New Orleans refuses to accept McCorvey’s motion and dismissed her demand to overturn the case.
In May 2022, the Supreme Court has again taken out the abortion case. Justice Samuel Alito wrote a draft that was called as draft of majority opinion and had the potential to overturn the Roe v. Wade (Jane Roe Norman McCarty v. Henry Wade) holding of the abortion case. Later the court confirm the authenticity of the document provided but added that it may not be a final decision.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court of the country overturns the 1973 reading and said the federal constitutional rights to abortion for women no longer exist under any circumstance.
On December 5, 2023, a woman named Kate Cox filed a lawsuit demanding the right to terminate her high-risk pregnancy that pose threat to her health and her future pregnancies. On Monday, the Supreme Court has ruled against her after Cox has left the state to pursue the procedure of abortion from where it is legal.
On December 7, a district court ruled that Cox could legally terminate her pregnancy. The move was made under the light of emergency ruling and granted temporary restraining order against the state, enabling Kate Cox to under go the abortion immediately.
“The idea that Mrs. Cox wants desperately to be a parent, and this law might actually cause her to lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice”, said Maya Guerra Gamble, the district court judge, in her ruling.
After the ruling came, the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton said Cox’s physician said she could still face civil and criminal penalties that include first-degree felony prosecution and $100,000 fine each violation.
On December 8, Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked Cox from receiving the procedure.
On Monday, December 11, the court, that comprised of nine Republican Justices issued a ruling and opinion that heavily slanted with Paxton and about reversing the lower court’s ruling.
The Supreme Court of Texas then called on to the State’s medical board to put forth more clarification on the state’s medical emergency exception by citing Cox case. The court also said Cox’s doctor did not establish that her symptoms were fatal.
Kate Cox left Texas to another country as she received “offers to help her access abortion”. The CEO and President at the Centre for Reproductive Rights, Nancy Northup, earlier said in a statement that Cox’s health is “in line. She has been in and out of the emergency room and she could not wait any longer. This is why judges and politicians should not be making health care decisions for pregnancy people. They are not doctors”. Whether Kate Cox will continue her legal battle against the latest ruling of the state’s Supreme Court is was not revealed.
Kate Cox is not the only one who was fighting against the state of Texas over the medical exception in the case of abortion. A group of five women filed a lawsuit asking the court to make it clear that abortions can be practiced when the physicians make “good faith judgement” that suggest the “pregnant person has a physical emergent medical condition that poses a risk of death or a risk to their health (including their fertility).
The argument regarding the language of medical exception in the case pf ban of abortion do not end there. Another group f 20 women and two physicians are having a separate fighting with the state’s court on this matter.
An attorney with the state’s attorney general office argued that the prevailing law was clear that if women facing fatal medical conditions were not receiving abortion, that should be considered as the negligence on the doctor’s part.
With inputs from CNN.
