A Texas court on Friday issued a temporary order in favor of a group of women and doctors who are challenging the state’s abortion bans on the grounds of medical emergency.
The Center for Reproductive Rights appeal argues that the way medical exceptions are defined in Texas law is confusing doctors and causing a “health crisis.”
In her written judgment, Judge Jessica Mangrum acknowledges that women have been “delayed or deprived of access to abortion due to widespread uncertainty regarding the scope of physicians to maneuver under the medical exception to abortion. ‘abortion ban in Texas’.
She ordered that the doctors not be prosecuted after exercising their “good faith judgment”.
An injunction… suspended in the coming days
Physicians should be allowed to determine what they deem to be medical emergencies that may endanger “a woman’s life and/or health (including fertility),” she said.
The temporary injunction is meant to last until the legal action is judged on the merits in a trial due to begin next March.
However, under Texas law, a ruling is automatically stayed once it is appealed, meaning Friday’s injunction will likely be blocked as soon as the state appeals.
Last month, the Austin court heard harrowing testimony from plaintiffs.
Amanda almost died because her doctor couldn’t act
Amanda Zurawski, who gave her name to the case, was unable to benefit from an abortion very early in her desired pregnancy, when the miscarriage was inevitable.
According to Amanda Zurawski, her doctor told her she “couldn’t intervene because the baby’s heart was still beating and inducing labor would be considered an illegal abortion.”
Amanda Zurawski, victim of sepsis, forcing the practice of an abortion three days later, almost lost her life.
The lawsuit is the first filed on behalf of women who have been denied abortions since the US Supreme Court gave states the freedom to legislate abortion on their own.
99 years in prison and heavy fines for doctors
Texas has banned all voluntary terminations of pregnancy (abortion), at any stage, including incest or rape. Only exception: in case of danger of death or risk of serious disability for the mother.
Texas doctors convicted of performing abortions face up to 99 years in prison, fines of up to $100,000 and the revocation of their medical licenses.
This action asks the courts to provide a binding interpretation of the exception of “medical emergency” provided for by law, arguing that it is up to doctors to assess, “in good faith”, the need for an abortion, rather than state legislators.
For the Texas attorney general’s office, these measures would effectively cancel its prohibitions.
The proposed medical exception would “by design destroy the rule,” its lawyers argue in their written response, “it would, for example, allow abortions for pregnant women with medical conditions ranging from a headache to a feeling of depression.
2023-08-05 05:52:00
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