archive link | Excerpt:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday threatened to prosecute any doctors involved in providing an emergency abortion to a woman, hours after she won a court order allowing her to obtain one for medical necessity. Paxton said in a letter that the order by District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin did not shield doctors from prosecution under all of Texas’s abortion laws, and that the woman, Kate Cox, had not shown she qualified for the medical exception to the state’s abortion ban.

Paxton said in a statement accompanying the letter that Guerra Gamble’s order “will not insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone else, from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws.”

See also: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4349124-texas-ag-says-court-exemption-abortion-still-prosecutable/

More on Kate Cox: https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2023/12/07/who-is-kate-cox-texas-woman-allowed-to-abort-fetus-with-lethal-abnormality/

  • ConstableJelly@beehaw.org
    16·
    11 months ago

    Cox’s fetus was diagnosed on Nov. 27 with trisomy 18, a genetic abnormality that usually results in miscarriage, stillbirth or death soon after birth. Cox, who is about 20 weeks pregnant, said in her lawsuit that she would need to undergo her third Caesarian section if she continues the pregnancy. That could jeopardize her ability to have more children, which she said she and her husband wanted.

    I know the answer, but the question deserves to be asked anyway: what the fuck does Ken Paxton gain by drawing a line here?? It’s just dumb and cruel. There’s no spinning this, I’m just…still in shock whenever conservatives reveal so transparently how much this is about control over preservation of life, an illusion they used to make at least some effort to maintain.

    “The idea that Ms. Cox wants desperately to be a parent, and this law might actually cause her to lose that ability, is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice,” said Guerra Gamble in Austin, Texas, state court, at Thursday’s hearing.

    It’s heartening to hear someone in authority speak some sense, but the fact Ms. Cox or any other person like her was ever in this position to begin with…I just can’t stomach it.

    • The Doctor@beehaw.orgEnglish
      12·
      11 months ago

      They don’t see a reason to keep the illusion going anymore. Pretending to actually care got them this far, and now they’ve decided that they won. So, they don’t have to keep pretending. In fact, from their point of view continuing the charade makes them seem weak.