Cox discusses suit in first interview since abortion
In her first TV interview since leaving the state to get an abortion, Kate Cox, the Dallas woman who sued Texas for permission to terminate her pregnancy, has opened up about the emotional toll of the lawsuit.
Cox and her husband shared their story on “CBS Sunday Morning” this weekend with news correspondent Tracy Smith. It was the couple’s first TV appearance since the Texas Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling allowing Cox, whose fetus was diagnosed with a typically fatal disorder, to get an abortion.
“It was crushing,” the 31year-old said. “I was shocked the state of Texas wanted me to continue a pregnancy where I would have to wait until a baby dies in my belly or dies at birth or lives for days and put my own health at risk and future pregnancy at risk.”
Cox sued the state for the right to an abortion in December after receiving test results showing that her fetus had trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder that often results in stillbirth or early infant death. Cox’s doctors said the baby, if it survived the pregnancy and birth, would live for less than one week, she explained during the newscast.
“I didn’t want to watch her suffer,” the mother of two children said, adding that following through with the pregnancy would put her at higher risk of complications and threaten her ability to have more children in the future.
Texas is one of 14 states that has broadly banned abortion with very limited exceptions. The state law, which has been in effect since August 2022, says abortion is only allowed in medical emergencies involving a “serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function.”
The law’s vagueness has caused many health care professionals, including Cox’s Houston physician, to steer clear from providing the procedure for fear of retribution. Doctors who perform abortions in Texas can face up to a $100,000 fine and up to 99 years in prison.
A Travis County judge ruled in early December that Cox could terminate her pregnancy but, shortly after, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a threatening letter informing her medical providers that they could be liable if they performed the procedure regardless of the court order.
On Dec. 11, the Texas Supreme Court struck down the lower court’s ruling, stating that doctors must use their “reasonable medical judgment” to determine whether a patient qualifies for an abortion.
The decision came hours after Cox’s lawyers announced that she would leave the state for the procedure. Cox said she ended up getting the abortion in New Mexico.
“I wanted to be here, close to home,” Cox said through tears during the interview. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve been through. I wanted to come home, cry in my own pillow, hold my babies, be near my doctors, so I was really hopeful.”
One of Cox’s lawyers, Molly Duane with the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the higher court’s ruling shows that “the exception in Texas doesn’t exist at all.”
But despite the outcome of the lawsuit, Duane said Cox’s case has “absolutely made a difference” in the fight to provide essential reproductive health care in the state.
“She got the health care that she needed, she got an abortion, but in terms of the big picture she brought people along on this journey with her and she helped people understand the true human toll that abortion bans take on families,” she said.
Cox said she’s grateful to have received hundreds of letters of support but has largely steered clear of social media where people on both sides of the issue have weighed in. The couple said the holidays with their family gave them “time to get back to normal” and that they will soon try to have another baby.
“Her name is Chloe,” Cox said about the fetus she lost. “I gave her a name because she’ll always be my baby. Her middle name is my grandfather’s name so she knew who to look for in heaven.”
“I was shocked the state of Texas wanted me to continue a pregnancy where I would have to wait until a baby dies in my belly or dies at birth or lives for days and put my own health at risk and future pregnancy at risk.”
Kate Cox