TEXAS BAN ON ABORTION RULED TOO RESTRICTIVE; APPEAL FILED

A Texas judge on Friday issued an exemption to the state’s abortion ban to temporarily allow abortions in cases of dangerous or complicated pregnancies, following emotional testimonies from women during a hearing last month about the impact of the state’s restrictive abortion laws on their bodies. The Texas attorney general’s office, however, swiftly filed an appeal hours later, blocking the exemption from taking effect.

Judge Jessica Mangrum ruled in favor of a group of women and doctors who filed a lawsuit in March seeking clarity on the scope of the medical emergencies exception clause in the state’s abortion ban. The development is likely to be a key moment in the fight over how abortion restrictions affect those with medically complicated pregnancies.

Texas has one of the country’s most restrictive laws on the procedure, banning it at six weeks, which experts say is before many people may even know they’re pregnant. The lawsuit is the first to be brought on behalf of women denied abortions in a state that enacted a new ban after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Due to Texas’ abortion ban, the lawsuit said, one woman could not have the procedure even as her fetus had no chance of surviving; she was only allowed to deliver after she became septic, leaving her with permanent physical damage. Her child died after birth.

Lawyers for the state of Texas had asked Mangrum to dismiss the case, claiming doctors who had misapplied the law were to blame for the women’s experiences. And Saturday, after issuing the appeal, the state’s Office of the Attorney General emphasized that “while a district judge’s ruling attempted to block the state’s enforcement of Texas pro-life laws, this filing stays the ruling pending a decision by the Texas Supreme Court.”

“Texas pro-life laws are in full effect,” the statement from the attorney general’s office continued. “This judge’s ruling is not.”