Lauren Miller, right, embraces Anna Zargarian after speaking as part of an announcement that the case Zurawski v. State of Texas has been filed, at Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. The women are two of five plaintiffs in the case that were denied medical care while experiencing pregnancy complications that threatened their health and lives. The lawsuit asks for clarification of the “medical emergency” exceptions in Texas’ abortion law- S.B. 8. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman via AP)(Sara Diggins / ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Texas women with complicated pregnancies, including those with fatal fetal diagnoses, are exempt from the state’s abortion bans after a Travis County court issued a temporary injunction Friday evening.
Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum issued the decision two weeks after four Texas women testified about abortions they were denied or forced to delay under the state’s ban on the procedure.
Texas’ abortion ban, which went into effect last August, outlawed abortions in all cases except for those that threatened the life of a pregnant patient. The law did not grant an exception for cases where the fetus was diagnosed with a fatal genetic or birth defect.
“The Court finds that there is uncertainty regarding whether the medical exception to Texas’ abortion bans… permits a physician to provide abortion care where, in the physician’s good faith judgment and in consultation with the pregnant person, a pregnant person has a physical emergent medical condition,” Mangrum said in the ruling.
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