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The Texas Supreme Courtroom held a listening to on the state’s medical exception to its abortion bans. Plaintiffs together with girls and medical doctors say the regulation is endangering lives in difficult wished pregnancies.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
At a listening to in Austin at this time, the justices of the Texas Supreme Courtroom heard a case in regards to the state’s abortion ban – particularly about whether or not the medical exemption within the bans are too narrowing and complicated. NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin has been following this case carefully and is right here to inform us extra. Hello, there.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: Hello, Juana.
SUMMERS: All proper. So Selena, earlier than we dig into what occurred at this time, lay out the case for us. Who’s suing, and what are they asking for?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: So this case was introduced by the Middle for Reproductive Rights, and so they’re representing 20 sufferers who had critical being pregnant issues however had been denied abortions or confronted delays and likewise two OB-GYNs who say they can not observe drugs correctly as a result of the abortion bans are unclear. And in the event that they interpret them incorrectly, they might face life in jail and the lack of their medical license. In order that they’re asking the courtroom to make clear the medical exception in order that medical doctors have extra leeway to make use of their judgment to supply abortions after they think about it medically obligatory.
SUMMERS: And what’s it in regards to the abortion regulation within the state of Texas that they are saying shouldn’t be clear?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: So there are presently three overlapping abortion bans. Abortion is prohibited within the state from the second being pregnant begins. There’s a medical exception that claims abortions are allowed if the lifetime of the affected person or a, quote, “main bodily operate” are in jeopardy. And the state has been fiercely defensive in regards to the regulation. And so they say – attorneys for the state say the language of the medical exception is evident and ample, and so they counsel that medical doctors are answerable for any harms that the sufferers declare on this case.
SUMMERS: Huh. OK, so what occurred at this time? Give us a number of the highlights.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Effectively, proper off the bat, the justices requested about this query of readability. That is Beth Klusmann. She was arguing for the Texas legal professional common’s workplace. She solely made it lower than a minute into her opening assertion when she was interrupted by Justice Debra Lehrmann.
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DEBRA LEHRMANN: Are you able to give us a – only a bright-line rule about what medical emergency means?
BETH KLUSMANN: Your Honor, I can solely level the courtroom to what the legislature has mentioned that the – what the medical emergency exception means – the life-threatening, bodily situation that is brought on or aggravated by a being pregnant that places a girl vulnerable to loss of life or substantial threat of great impairment of a serious bodily operate.
LEHRMANN: And also you acknowledge that that places medical professionals in a very dangerous state of affairs?
KLUSMANN: No, Your Honor, I do not assume it does.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: This was a theme of the listening to. Is that language unclear? And whether it is, what is the position of the state Supreme Courtroom to make clear the statute? The justices actually appeared to wrestle with this query. And one other huge theme was standing. So Texas has argued that not one of the sufferers have standing to sue as a result of they had been harmed up to now, and any future hurt is theoretical. Right here is how the Middle for Reproductive Rights legal professional Molly Duane responded to that argument within the courtroom at this time. And only a warning – her feedback are pretty graphic.
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MOLLY DUANE: Then the courtroom could be saying {that a} affected person must have blood or amniotic fluid dripping down their leg earlier than they will come to courtroom. And fairly clearly, sufferers in these conditions are far more involved with getting correct medical care and saving their lives, their fertility and their households than they’re with discovering a lawyer and coming to courtroom.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: A number of of the justices appeared, to me, to agree that at the very least a number of the plaintiffs do have standing and that there’s confusion amongst medical doctors and that the dearth of readability within the regulation because it stands is problematic.
SUMMERS: OK. And Selena, what does this imply for abortion within the state of Texas? What comes subsequent?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Effectively, for now, abortions are nonetheless banned in Texas. What’s subsequent is the Texas Supreme Courtroom should determine if the medical exception ought to change quickly because the case continues via the authorized system. The choice might come within the subsequent few weeks, however the timing is not simple to foretell. That is what Professor Liz Sepper of Texas Regulation in Austin instructed me.
LIZ SEPPER: It should rely an awesome deal on getting settlement. This case, I believe, grew to become extra tangled the extra that the justices pulled on the thread.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: She additionally mentioned that, watching the listening to at this time, it was laborious to get a learn on the entire courtroom, however she does assume there is a good likelihood this case will proceed to trial, which is scheduled for subsequent April. And the listening to on the injunction was – within the district courtroom final July – was actually dramatic. You had 4 sufferers testifying about their sagas with critical issues, medical doctors not even prepared to say the phrase abortion to them. Some needed to journey to different states. Two plaintiffs developed sepsis whereas ready for Texas hospitals to supply abortion. So if the trial does go forward within the spring, it is going to undoubtedly be one to observe.
SUMMERS: NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin. Thanks.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Thanks.
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