Texas Woman Forced to Leave State After Supreme Court Pauses Abortion Ruling, Sparking Debate Over Pregnant Women’s Rights

A Texas woman who had sought a legal medical exemption for an abortion has left the state after the Texas Supreme Court paused a lower court decision that would allow her to have the procedure, lawyers for the Center for Reproductive Rights said Monday. The woman, identified as Marlise Munoz, had been seeking to terminate her pregnancy due to a fatal diagnosis for her fetus.

Munoz and her husband sought a court order to block Texas’ abortion bans from applying in her case. A district judge granted the request Thursday, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sought an emergency stay from the state Supreme Court, which then paused the lower court’s order Friday evening.

According to court documents, Munoz’s doctors told her baby suffered from the chromosomal disorder trisomy 18, which usually results in either stillbirth or an early death of an infant. In response to her decision to leave the state, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton warned a Texas medical center that it would face legal consequences if an abortion were performed.

The Center for Reproductive Rights said in a statement that Munoz and her family had been forced to make an “agonizing decision” due to the state’s abortion laws. The organization also said that the Texas Supreme Court’s decision to pause the lower court’s ruling was “cruel and unconstitutional.”

The case has sparked a debate over the rights of pregnant women in Texas. Advocates for reproductive rights have argued that the state’s abortion laws are too restrictive and infringe on the rights of pregnant women. Opponents of abortion have argued that the laws are necessary to protect the rights of unborn children.