Texas Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Abortion Law
The Texas Supreme Court overturned on Friday a temporary injunction issued last August that had allowed women with complicated pregnancies to get a medically indicated abortion despite Texas' near-total abortion ban....
Facts
- The Texas Supreme Court overturned on Friday a temporary injunction issued last August that had allowed women with complicated pregnancies to get a medically indicated abortion despite Texas' near-total abortion ban.1
- Ruling unanimously for the state in Zurawski v. Texas, the court wrote that existing medical exceptions are broad enough to allow a doctor to perform an abortion to address life-threatening conditions.2
- This comes as an Austin state district judge sided last year with the Center for Reproductive Rights, blocking the state's post-Roe abortion law for women facing serious pregnancy complications.3
- The abortion-rights advocacy group filed the lawsuit on behalf of 20 women claiming to have been denied medically necessary abortions and two doctors as they sought more clarity on the ban's exception for medical emergencies.4
- This suit is the first medical-based challenge to any state's abortion law since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, allowing states to impose tighter abortion restrictions.5
- Under Texas' Human Life Protection Act and a revived 1925 abortion ban, doctors found guilty of carrying out abortions face up to 99 years in prison, fines of at least $100K, and the loss of their medical license.6
Sources: 1The Texas Tribune, 2CBS, 3USA Today, 4BBC News, 5The Hill and 6Courthouse News Service.
Narratives
- Left narrative, as provided by Axios.com. At a time when the infant and maternal mortality rates are skyrocketing in Texas, and doctors are operating under the fear they'll be charged with a felony for performing an abortion in the wrong situation, the Texas Supreme Court has done little to rectify a dire situation. There are still many confusing issues related to exceptions that must be cleared up.
- Right narrative, as provided by Washington Examiner. These plaintiffs wanted clarity about this law and now they have it. The law allows for life-saving abortions and doesn't require a mother's death to be imminent. Anyone with a life-threatening condition or who's in danger of a serious impairment qualifies for an exception. Doctors who are hesitant about doing their duty within this law are overreacting.
