A lower court in the state of Texas allowed a woman with a so-called ‘severe anomaly’ to get an abortion, but that was just temporarily undone by the highest court in the state.
Here’s more from ABC News:
The Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked a historic lower court ruling on Friday that allowed a Texas woman to get an emergency abortion.
The state’s attorney general asked the high court to reverse a judge’s decision granting a woman’s request for an abortion for a pregnancy with a severe anomaly.
The Supreme Court said it will weigh in on the matter and put the lower court’s decision on hold until it has more time to consider the case, according to court documents.
The woman, Kate Cox, had filed a lawsuit against the state over its restrictive abortion bans, asking a judge to grant her a temporary restraining order that would allow her to get an abortion.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, a Democrat elected to the bench, granted Cox’s request.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton overnight filed an appeal asking the Texas Supreme Court to immediately block the restraining order, writing that “time is of the essence.”
“Each hour it remains in place is an hour that Plaintiffs believe themselves free to perform and procure an elective abortion,” the filing stated. “Nothing can restore the unborn child’s life that will be lost as a result.”
So what is this severe anomaly? The unborn baby has been diagnosed with the rare disease of trisomy 18:
Cox is currently carrying a pregnancy with virtually no chance the baby — who has trisomy 18 — will survive to birth or long afterward. She’s said she has been denied the safest form of abortion care for her — a dilation and evacuation procedure. The CRR would not disclose when or where Cox plans to obtain her abortion care due to safety concerns.
Maybe the doctors are right about this diagnosis, but maybe they are not. An Australian woman said her unborn baby was diagnosed with trisomy 18 but was born healthy in 2018. Rick Santorum’s little girl Bella actually had trisomy 18 and was told she wouldn’t live long. But I believe she’s still very much alive.
In other words, doctors aren’t always able to predict the future and this little baby could be born healthy or could still live a full life. I’m glad the Texas Supreme Court blocked this ruling and I hope they make it permanent. This little child deserves to live.