Pregnant Texas woman granted abortion calls legal fight ‘overwhelming’

The Texas woman at the center of a legal fight over whether she can receive emergency abortion care called the stresses of the controversy “overwhelming.”

Kate Cox was granted an exemption to Texas’ strict abortion laws on Thursday because her fetus has a fatal chromosomal disorder. But, the state Supreme Court paused the order on Friday after it was criticized and challenged by Attorney General Ken Paxton (R).

“She’ll either die in my belly, or I’ll carry her to term and have to deliver her stillborn,”  Cox said in a PBS interview. “Or, if she arrives into this world, her life will be measured in minutes or hours or days and plagued with medical devices.”

“She would need to be placed directly onto hospice. Imagine receiving that news and pairing that with the risks and complications of continuing the pregnancy and the childbirth,” she continued. “It’s overwhelming.”

Paxton responded to the lower court’s order Thursday with a letter threatening legal consequences for area hospitals if she gets abortion care.

He wrote that the ruling “will not insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone else, from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws.”

“The TRO [temporary restraining order] will expire long before the statute of limitations for violating Texas’ abortion laws expires,” he continued.

Cox’s case has drawn national attention, as Democrats hold up abortion rights as a key 2024 issue.

“A woman in Texas is fighting in court for an abortion while corrupt extremist Ken Paxton threatens to throw her doctors in jail. It’s cruel and horrific,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said on X, formerly Twitter. “This case is a direct consequence of the Trump-stacked Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.”

The case could also have 2024 implications in Texas, where Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) faces a reelection fight against likely challenger Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas.).

“To force someone to carry out a nonviable pregnancy — at risk to her own life — is unthinkably cruel and barbaric,” Allred said in a statement to The Hill. “These extreme abortion bans are life-threatening. Texas women deserve freedom, not subjugation.”

“Extreme politicians like Ted Cruz have failed Texas women, and that’s why Texas voters will reject his dangerous extremism next November,” he added.