Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has asked the state’s supreme court to stop a Dallas woman from getting an abortion even though a judge had ruled that she could.
Mr Paxton’s office petitioned the court just before midnight on Thursday, after a judge in Travis County granted a temporary restraining order allowing Kate Cox to terminate her nonviable pregnancy.
He also sent a letter to three hospitals in the state threatening legal action if they allowed the abortion to go ahead, reported The Texas Tribune on Friday.
The judge’s decision went against the Republican-controlled state’s strict anti-abortion bans and is the first case of its kind since Roe v Wade was overturned.
Kate Cox’s baby was diagnosed with full trisomy 18, and her baby may not survive until birth, and if the baby does, the life would only span for minutes, hours or days, her attorney, Molly Duane said.
Mr Paxton has asked the Texas Supreme Court to rule quickly on the case, stating that “each hour [the temporary restraining order] remains in place is an hour that Plaintiffs believe themselves free to perform and procure an elective abortion.”
“Nothing can restore the unborn child’s life that will be lost as a result,” the filing said. “Post hoc enforcement is no substitute, so time is of the essence.”
Lawyers for Ms Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant, argued that the only options open to her in Texas, an induction and C-section, could both cause her issues for future fertility as she has already had two C-sections.
“The idea that Ms Cox wants desperately to be a parent and that this law might cause her to lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice,” Judge Maya Guerra Gamble said while tearing up in court on Thursday.
