Texas judge rules in favor of women denied abortions
TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas) - A Texas judge issued a ruling Friday blocking the state's abortion bans as they apply to dangerous pregnancy complications.
The judge's injunction also includes fatal fetal diagnoses.
Months have passed since the group of women and two doctors filed suit against the state, claiming the new abortion laws put their lives at risk.
In July, they gave emotional testimony about the risks to their health they endured when they say they were denied care during their failed pregnancies.
The judge's ruling found the women in the case should have been given abortions, adding they were denied abortions due to "widespread uncertainty" in the medical exception to Texas' abortion bans.
Texas has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country. In 2021, Governor Greg Abbott signed the law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, the "trigger ban" also went into effect making it a felony for doctors in the state to perform abortions unless the life of the patient was in danger.
The Court found "physical medical conditions" warranting an abortion include, at a minimum:
- a physical medical condition or complication of pregnancy that poses a risk of infection, or otherwise makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe for the pregnant person;
- a physical medical condition that is exacerbated by pregnancy, cannot be effectively treated during pregnancy, or requires recurrent invasive intervention;
- and/or a fetal condition where the fetus is unlikely to survive the pregnancy and sustain life after birth.
Mangrum also wrote that any official's enforcement of Texas' abortion bans against any physician who provides an abortion to someone who meets the legal requirements would violate their constitutional rights as outlined by the state.
Doctors cannot be prosecuted for using their own "good faith judgment," Judge Jessica Mangrum wrote.
The judge also declared a citizen-enforced abortion ban unconstitutional and dismissed the state's request to throw out the case.
Late Friday, the state's Attorney general filed an appeal, blocking any change to the law.