Texas Supreme Court Overturns Court Order Granting Kate Cox the Right to Terminate Her High-Risk Pregnancy

Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two in Texas, has been at the center of a high-profile legal challenge to the state’s abortion laws. After learning that her fetus had a rare disorder that prevented it from surviving outside the womb, Cox sought a court order to terminate her pregnancy in Texas. Last week, a state district court granted her request, but the Texas Supreme Court overturned the order on Monday.

Cox determined that her pregnancy was too risky and sought an out-of-state abortion, her lawyers said. The abortion rights movement has argued that the Texas abortion ban was meant to prevent women like Cox from getting abortions as much as it was to ban young women from ending unwanted pregnancies early in the first trimester.

The case of Cox has attracted nationwide horror for its sheer brutality. Her fetus, at best, might have a brief and painful life; in the process of giving birth, Cox could be seriously sickened and left unable to have more children in the future.

The state Supreme Court had paused the lower court’s ruling as it considered the case. It is unclear what will happen next, as the court has yet to issue a ruling. In the meantime, Cox has left the state to terminate her pregnancy.

The case of Kate Cox has highlighted the dangers of restrictive abortion laws. It has also sparked a nationwide debate about the rights of pregnant women and the importance of access to safe and legal abortions.