Five women denied abortions by Texas sue to force state to clarify rules on medical exceptions

Five women who say they were denied abortions under Texas law while dealing with medical crises have sued the state, aiming to clarify when the procedure is actually permissible under state law.

“[The women] have been denied necessary and potentially life-saving obstetrical care because medical professionals throughout the state fear liability under Texas’s abortion bans,” according to a copy of the suit obtained by National Public Radio.

The Center for Reproductive Rights filed the petition in state court on behalf of the women and two doctors. The New York-based legal organization is expected formally unveil the legal challenge at a press conference Tuesday in Austin.

In an emailed statement, the Center for Reproductive Rights called its suit the “first of its kind” since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.

The petition doesn’t ask the Texas court to throw out the state’s multiple abortion bans. Instead, it asks the judge to determine whether doctors can provide abortion care in situations where pregnancy threatens the health of a woman or when the fetus is unable to survive outside the womb.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this in the nation, having people with pregnancy complications having to sue the state,” Center for Reproductive Rights President Nancy Northup told the New York Times. “It puts a face on the reality of what it means when you criminalize abortion care. It shows that abortion care is health care.”

Abortion-rights advocates and medical professionals have argued that the “medical emergency” exceptions in Texas’ multiple abortion bans — including the so-called “trigger law” that went into effect after Roe was overturned — are murky and conflicting, making doctors and patients unsure when someone qualifies.

Further, the Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks allows virtually anyone to sue a person who helps another obtain an abortion. That law has made it difficult for physicians and health care providers to know what information they can provide to women facing risky pregnancies without facing legal jeopardy.

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This article appears in Feb 22 – Mar 7, 2023.