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Texas judge rules state's abortion ban is too restrictive for women with complicated pregnancies [1]

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Date: 2023-08-04

A Texas district court judge ruled Friday that the state’s abortion ban is too restrictive for women with seriously complicated pregnancies and doctors must be allowed to perform the procedure without fear of prosecution, The Texas Tribune reported.

The Texas Tribune wrote:

State District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum of Austin wrote that the state’s attorney general cannot prosecute doctors who, in their “good faith judgment,” terminate a complicated pregnancy. Mangrum outlined those conditions as a pregnancy that presents a risk of infection; a fetal condition in which the fetus will not survive after birth; or when the pregnant person has a condition that requires regular, invasive treatment. In her ruling, Mangrum wrote that Senate Bill 8, the law restricting abortion access, was unconstitutional. She said that enforcement of the abortion ban was beyond the legal powers of Texas officials tasked with prosecuting physicians under this law.

x #BREAKING: A Travis County Judge sides with women and doctors suing Texas over the state’s abortion ban, issuing an injunction and saying the ban’s medical exemptions are unclear. #txlegehttps://t.co/F6XkkxymLR pic.twitter.com/oUAGXc3Fxg — Michael Adkison (@madkisonews) August 4, 2023

The Center for Reproductive Rights, the legal group representing the plaintiffs, welcomed the judge’s ruling.

x #BREAKING: HUGE NEWS! 🎉🎉🎉

The judge in our Zurawski v. Texas case has ruled IN FAVOR of our plaintiffs, BLOCKING Texas' abortion bans as they apply to dangerous pregnancy complications including fatal fetal diagnoses. — Center for Reproductive Rights (@ReproRights) August 4, 2023

In July, three of the plaintiffs in the case offered harrowing testimony about how they suffered from delayed medical care as a result of the highly restrictive Texas abortion ban. Their lawsuit sought to clarify when a medical emergency justifies an abortion.

“Now people don’t have to be pregnant and scared in Texas anymore,” lead plaintiff Amanda Zurawski said in a statement on Friday, according to The Texas Tribune. "We’re back to relying on doctors and not politicians to help us make the best medical decisions for our bodies and our lives."

The Texas Tribune reported that the state is likely to appeal the judge’s ruling, which could cause the injunction to be blocked while the case advances through the courts.

U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, in 2024, had this reaction:

“The impact of Texas’s cruel abortion ban has been devastating, with so many women in Texas facing complications during dangerous pregnancies because they don’t have access to abortion. This decision is welcome and I’ll keep fighting to expand access until every woman has the right to choose.”



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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/4/2185345/-Texas-judge-rules-state-s-abortion-ban-is-too-restrictive-for-women-with-complicated-pregnancies

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