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Texas Supreme Court rejects lawsuit over medical exceptions to state’s abortion law

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday unanimously ruled against 22 women who suffered complications during pregnancy who had sued the state over its near-total abortion ban.

Why it matters: The state Supreme Court struck down a lower court's ruling that clarified when abortion exceptions for medical emergencies should be allowed.


Context: The lawsuit, originally filed in March 2023, didn't seek to overturn Texas's ban but only to clarify when medical exceptions are allowed under the law.

  • Critics have said the ambiguity over when exceptions are allow has contributed to confusion among doctors — who can be charged with a first-degree felony if they violate the law.
  • They have also argued the confusion and possibility of criminal liability endangers the lives of pregnant women, who could denied necessary and potentially life-saving abortions.

How it works: Texas's ban, one of the strictest in the country, does not include exceptions for rape or incest.

  • Under it, physicians can perform an abortion only if the pregnant person's life is at risk or if the pregnancy "poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function." The provider must also attempt to save the fetus.
  • A state district court judge ruled last summer that the state could not prosecute doctors who terminated a complicated pregnancy in their "good faith judgment," but the order was almost immediately blocked through an appeal by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office.

What's inside: The Texas Supreme Court, which is comprised only of elected Republicans, ruled Friday that the lower court's ruling was flawed because "all pregnancies carry risks."

  • "While merely being pregnant may increase a mother's risk of death or injury, pregnancy itself is not a 'life-threatening physical condition' under the law," the court said.
  • "Because the trial court's order opens the door to permit abortion to address any pregnancy risk, it is not a faithful interpretation of the law."

Between the lines: The court kept in place the medical exception portion of the state's ban, saying "Texas law permits a life-saving abortion."

  • However, it eliminated an attempt to clarify when a physical condition could kill or impair a pregnant woman.
  • No matter how the court ruled on Friday, Texas's ban would have remained in effect.

The big picture: The debate over what medical emergency merits legal abortion is occurring as infant and maternal mortalities have both spiked in Texas.

Go deeper: Why abortion won't be on the Texas ballot in 2024

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