The court ruled that the lower court made a mistake in ruling that the woman, Kate Cox, who is more than 20 weeks pregnant, was entitled to a medical exception.

Ms. Cox asked the lower court for approval after she learned that her fetus had a fatal condition, and after several trips to the emergency room.

In short, the life or health exemptions to abortion bans in Republican-controlled states are meaningless.

  • @Veedem
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    1621 year ago

    Women are screwed in states like Texas. This woman isn’t someone who was careless and doesn’t want to live with consequences. This is as clear cut and in line with the supposed exceptions as can be. She’s very fortunate that she can afford to go elsewhere. There are many woman who don’t have that same option. Absolutely horrible.

    • spaceghoti
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      661 year ago

      Hopefully, she can afford to stay out of Texas. Her life and safety are at risk, as well as legal jeopardy from these shenanigans.

      • Bizarroland
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        431 year ago

        Yeah, if I were her I would never go back to Texas. Who knows if some jackass is going to try to make their career off of imprisoning her for getting an out of state abortion?

      • Jay
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        1 year ago

        Sadly that’s still a win for texas. One less vote against them.

        • TwoGems
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          71 year ago

          It’s not like we could get anyone to vote anyway. They had the opportunity to show up and didn’t.

          Just 45.7% of 17.7 million voters showed up.

  • @someguy3
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    1 year ago

    I predict the same shenanigans for exceptions for rape. “You were raped? Ok let’s wait for the conviction. It took too long and now you can’t get an abortion? Teehee.”

    • @asteriskeverything
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      421 year ago

      Fuck, it can even be a struggle for a woman to even be believed that she was raped. Especially in right leaning counties/cities/states. And also fight for an exception? I do wonder have any women been given a medical exception?

      • @NotMyOldRedditName
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        51 year ago

        I have yet to hear about any medical exemptions, this was the first which was then discarded.

        This rejection will have a chilling affect on the willingness of others to try for an exemption as well.

        • @AA5B
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          31 year ago

          Even worse, it sounds like it wasn’t entirely settled, just delayed until after it makes no difference

      • @AA5B
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        31 year ago

        It’s ver y easy to get an exception - I understand you were raised. Let’s schedule a court date 12 weeks from now to see if you’re under the six week limit

        • @asteriskeverything
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          21 year ago

          *raped Sorry it took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure that autocorrect out so just wanna share for others.

          But damn that hits home. Pro-life Americans don’t wanna even listen or consider that the system of “exceptions” don’t function at all even at the most basic of empathetic levels. Like a 5 year old would talk about terminating an unsustainable or unwanted pregnancy with more grace and empathy than a republican congress person. And emphasis on person- it can be appalling what the women are willing to say and support.

          • @AA5B
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            21 year ago

            Yep, I didn’t notice that autocorrect, thanks

    • Chainweasel
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      291 year ago

      I imagine it’ll be more like:
      “You were raped? Do you have a photo of yourself in the outfit you were wearing when you were raped? We need see if you were asking for it or not before we make that decision”

      • unalivejoy
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        121 year ago

        “Did you orgasm? It’s a sin if you were raped and enjoyed it.” Wait, that’s for church.

        • Chainweasel
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          71 year ago

          If there was a line between the church and the state we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.

          • @AA5B
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            21 year ago

            It’s too bad our country’s founders didn’t consider whether there should be a separation of church and state

    • Flying Squid
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      271 year ago

      The idea that a woman has to prove to legal satisfaction that she was raped in order to get an abortion is so fucking sickening. There shouldn’t be the same standard for a raped woman to get an abortion than there is to convict her rapist.

      • @NotMyOldRedditName
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        1 year ago

        While I think its sickening, they need some way to at least prove it happened to legal satisfaction. Not the same standard I agree.

        If all you had to do was claim rape and invent an imaginary situation the police would never figure out (e.g masked rapist in a no camera area of town when no one was around) then every woman could just claim rape to get an abortion.

        Filing a false police report probably has consequences but worse than having an unwanted child?

        Although I’m not saying a conviction is needed here, but some sort of medical agreement that rape was likely, however they determine that now with rape kits.

        This whole thing is maddening though. They should be able to get an abortion if they want one end of story.

        Edit: for anyone who wants to or has downvoted me here, please do tell me how we can ban abortions and have an exception for rape, but not have a way of verifying a rape without allowing 100% of woman to claim rape for 100% of abortions. This shitty situation is reality, and you can’t just disagree and say they should be allowed an abortion because they want one. That’s not a valid answer to our current situation as shitty as it is.

        • zarp86
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          81 year ago

          Edit: for anyone who wants to or has downvoted me here, please do tell me how we can ban abortions and have an exception for rape

          The answer here is simple: I reject the premise of the question. Banning abortion but having an exception for rape is morally disingenuous. You can’t say “abortion is murder some of the time.”

          • @NotMyOldRedditName
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            If that’s your stance that’s fair, I made an assumption that the downvotes were from people upset that I was explaining why they can’t just allow a rape claim without some confirmation a rape actually happened.

            Edit: I was just explaining the situation, though.

            Edit: also thanks, I appreciate the answer.

        • @ThatWeirdGuy1001
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          71 year ago

          If all you had to do was claim rape and invent an imaginary situation the police would never figure out (e.g masked rapist in a no camera area of town when no one was around) then every woman could just claim rape to get an abortion.

          What’s wrong with that?

          They should be able to get an abortion if they want one

          Which is exactly why there’s nothing wrong with women lying about being raped. You shouldn’t have to have been raped to get an abortion in the first place and I’d be lying my ass off about it if I needed an abortion.

          “Yes officer I didn’t see any defining features he wore a mask and didn’t speak he also put a bag over my head and put a blindfold on me”

          • @NotMyOldRedditName
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            1 year ago

            Sadly that just won’t fly. It sucks, but you’re being delusional if you think a state with an abortion ban would accept such a glaring loophole in their laws.

            Edit: 100% unrelated but I seem to be getting delayed notifications that I even have a reply to a message? Am I the only one experiencing that?

            • @ThatWeirdGuy1001
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              11 year ago

              Oh I know it won’t I’m just saying that’s exactly what I would say before nopeing the fuck outta state permanently.

              As for the notification thing idk what app your using but it’s normal on jerboa. You can just check your notifications manually and it’ll be there before the actual notification

              • @NotMyOldRedditName
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                21 year ago

                I like to think I would have noped out of the state permanently well before I got pregnant.

                I’m using sync, the inbox will show no new messages even when I refresh it, and then 5 min later show one that’s 20 minutes old. I haven’t dug into it further though like comparing to the web.

  • @rockSlayer
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    791 year ago

    I’m curious how the “but there’s exceptions!” Crowd will try to spin this

      • Flying Squid
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        61 year ago

        Exactly. The same way they’re not spinning calls for a national abortion ban after years of “leave it up to the states.”

  • IHeartBadCode
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    571 year ago

    For those wondering, the State’s Supreme Court is hardlining the Legislative language here.

    While I don’t know medicine enough to give real percentages, the lower Judge ruled the abortion could continue because there was like a 70% or something chance of dying and the letter of the Texas law requires something along the lines of a 95% chance of death.

    Again I don’t think one can attribute hard numbers, but the Supreme Court is saying that the laws indicate that only when death is pretty much assured can an abortion happen, which is a completely insane stance. And in this case death was only mostly going to happen, not absolutely going to happen.

    Roughly speaking, the Texas Supreme Court basically said that the person needs to be closer to death than the defendant in this case. How much closer? The Court isn’t super clear, but clearly much more closer to death than this person was.

    Because clearly taking pain and suffering into account is just beside the point at this point for Texas.

    • @TallonMetroid
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      531 year ago

      Because clearly taking pain and suffering into account is just beside the point at this point for Texas.

      No, the suffering is the point. The entire “pro-life” “stance” is nothing more than an excuse to indulge in oppression.

      • @Supervisor194
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        371 year ago

        Precisely correct. This married woman - who wants more children and is a clear case for an exception - couldn’t be allowed an exception, because the whores need to be made to suffer for their poor choices.

        We can’t be muddying the waters with all this “nuance.” The whores are going to pay in the state of Texas, and that will be that.

        • Flying Squid
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          41 year ago

          Apparently abortion is so much murder that even if they’re going to die within minutes of being born, it’s still murder.

          • @Nightwingdragon
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            51 year ago

            It’s so much murder that the only reasonable solution is to just let them both die, dont ya know?

        • prole
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          11 year ago

          Exactly. If the white married mother of 2 (who will probably continue voting Republican) doesn’t get an exemption, that means they plan on giving it to nobody.

    • @Lifecoach5000
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      81 year ago

      Thanks for the simple to understand summary.

  • @[email protected]
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    491 year ago

    This might turn out really funny even though it’s horrible right now for a lot of people in Texas. All of the women are going to leave if they can, especially ones with money and an education. Then you’re left with the poor people, a bunch of incels and/or white christians fighting over the women that are left. Have fun dumb asses.

    Serious note: If you have a woman or family in your life that you care about or just want to help people, get them out of Texas.

    • @assassin_aragorn
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      501 year ago

      This case confirms that Republicans will not allow exceptions for the mother’s health. Paxton has now put into writing, as the state’s legal argument, that the legal system can’t go by what doctors consider reasonable. Because then someone could find a doctor who would probably grant it.

      Hang this millstone around every Republican’s neck. Ask every Republican if they agree with Paxton’s death panels; if they agree that it’s okay for the government to get involved and throw red tape when there’s a >5% chance of death without a procedure. Ask them if they would like to rebuke Paxton. And ask what they’ll do to make sure that can’t happen in any state, including Texas – or, if people should vote for a Democrat if they want this fixed.

      Hold their feet to hot fucking coals until there’s sear marks.

      • @[email protected]
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        1 year ago

        Nah, we’ll just talk about how Biden is three years older than Trump for the next 11 months.

        • Billiam
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          151 year ago

          Or his stance on Palestine, or how he isn’t just allowing Russia to steal Ukraine, or Hunter’s dong, or any other fucking thing the media thinks they can use to turn the election into a horse race.

          • @Nightwingdragon
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            31 year ago

            But if this were the lopsided landslide that it actually should be, the poor media companies will suffer. We can’t just have a normal, run-of-the-mill race any more. That’s not entertaining enough. Nope. Gotta make those quarterly earnings, democracy be damned. I mean, who needs a functioning government these days anyway?

        • @AA5B
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          31 year ago

          Or how his son got his laptop stolen. Clearly Biden fault

        • @CharlesDarwin
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          21 year ago

          Oh, and how the feelings of The Man On The Street regarding inflation and job insecurity is a reason to…checks notes…punish not only Biden, but all of America for these feelings.

      • @[email protected]
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        211 year ago

        When this sort of thing happened in Kansas, Kansas enshrined abortion rights in their constitution.

        When this sort of thing happened in Ohio, Ohio enshrined abortion rights in their constitution.

        Texas politicians want to fuck around, they will find out.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          131 year ago

          Only states which were controlled by progressives in the early 20th century have the ability for voters to use a ballot initiative to override the Legislature like that. Much of the country has no such safety mechanism.

          • Flying Squid
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            41 year ago

            And the legislature has likely been severely jerrymandered into permanency. We have no hope here in Indiana.

            • @[email protected]OP
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              61 year ago

              Yeah, fixing it nationally requires taking control over the US Supreme Court and changing the rulings which deem partisan gerrymandering acceptable.

        • @assassin_aragorn
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          21 year ago

          I don’t know if I feel optimistic about that or not. I lived in Houston for a couple years. Republicans have such a stranglehold over the state that I’m not sure a referendum would be successful like it was in other red states.

          That said, there was also a common line by Texas Democrats that it wasn’t a red state, but a non voting state. With that model, it’s possible for the Republican to raise so much opposition that the traditional non voters sweep the Republicans away for going too far.

          • @[email protected]
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            21 year ago

            Republicans have a similar stranglehold on both Kansas and Ohio, but the party has a significant split on abortion issues. An awful lot of Republicans see it as a personal freedom issue rather than a “baby murder” issue.

            Hardliners like Ken Paxton really aren’t helping the “pro-life” camp.

    • @NocturnalMorning
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      121 year ago

      That’s what they want, so they can solidify Texas as a red state for the next 20 years for voting purposes. Nothing else matters bcz this is all just a game to them.

      • @[email protected]
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        61 year ago

        That’s probably true, but why should anyone put their wives, their kids or themselves at risk for voting purposes? This can be la life/death situation and isn’t an ephemeral issue.

        • @NocturnalMorning
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          41 year ago

          I’m not suggesting people stay necessarily. It’s a shiny situation

          • @[email protected]
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            11 year ago

            I like how your phone did you wrong, lol. It is a shiny situation. Some people have been saying that they should stay in Florida and Texas even if it’s unsafe for them because of the new laws, glad to hear you’re not one of them.

    • @bostonbananarama
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      101 year ago

      Then you’re left with the poor people, a bunch of incels and/or white christians fighting over the women that are left.

      Did you mean to describe all of the south?

  • @mkwt
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    341 year ago

    Breaking news is that she has decided to secure her own health in another state.

    • nakal
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      161 year ago

      The system is broken when you have to discuss your health with judges instead of a doctor.

      • @Lifecoach5000
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        51 year ago

        Well hadn’t they already blocked the lower courts ruling?

        • @[email protected]OP
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          81 year ago

          Yes, but courts will do that kind d of thing on a temporary basis to prevent something irreversible from happening before they rule. Temporary blocks like that don’t guarantee a particular final decision.

  • @MisterFrog
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    211 year ago

    As an outsider, it is absolutely wild that we’re seeing refugees within the same allegedly developed country. I’m more convinced everyday the United states is a just a bunch of countries in a trench coat.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      121 year ago

      It’s not really a new phenomenon. The book Albion’s Seed goes into detail about how the country was put together by different groups of people with very different ideas about what it should be. Those fundamental disagreements define a lot of modern political conflict within the US.

    • body_by_make
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      71 year ago

      It says it on the tin. United States. However, as with any group of entities all striving for power and being driven apart by outside forces, not so united these days.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      151 year ago

      Could also go the other way, if large numbers of women leave the state seeking better odds of surviving pregnancy.

      • @assassin_aragorn
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        231 year ago

        It’s worth pointing out that Texas already has really high infant and pregnancy mortality rates too.

        Either Republicans get fucked in the polls, or Texas gets fucked. All the companies there will have to relocate if they want to attract and retain their professional employees. Or, they could have policies to aid people seeking an abortion, and dare the state to sue them for it.

        • TechyDad
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          151 year ago

          Was that before the flight of any doctor whose practice could even touch on abortion? Because doctors are fleeing Texas and I don’t blame them. If my state ruled that I could go to prison for 10 years and become a felon just for doing my job, I’d get out and go to a more welcoming state.

          Sadly, this means that a lot of poorer people won’t be able to get decent healthcare. Hopefully, before it gets too bad (relatively speaking) there’s a political backlash that kicks the Republicans out of office.

          • @assassin_aragorn
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            21 year ago

            This was indeed before Roe was overturned. Texas is one of the most anti life states I can think of.

  • @samus12345
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    121 year ago

    Misread it as “Toxic” instead of “Texas.” Still accurate.

  • @CharlesDarwin
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    81 year ago

    Seems like cons want Texas to be part of the Republic of Gilead.

  • @Rice_Daddy
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    61 year ago

    The whole article is quite a dystopian read. Paxton’s intervention into medical decisions is self-righteous, and a statement from an anti-abortion group that was so cruel I felt a little sick.

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    41 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    “Kate desperately wanted to be able to get care where she lives and recover at home surrounded by family,” Nancy Northup, the chief executive for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which was representing Ms. Cox in her case, said in a statement.

    The case was believed to be the first to seek a court-ordered exception since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, clearing the way for Republican-controlled states like Texas to enact near-total bans on abortions.

    It marked a new chapter in the legal history of abortion in the United States, with pregnant women now going to court seeking permission for their doctors to do what they determine to be medically necessary without fear of severe criminal or civil penalties.

    That case, Zurawski v. Texas, involves women who said they were forced to continue pregnancies, despite dangers to their health, because the vagueness of the state’s exemptions made doctors extremely cautious about when a medical condition was serious enough to allow for an abortion.

    The judge issued a temporary restraining order barring Mr. Paxton and others from enforcing the state bans against Dr. Karsan, Ms. Cox’s husband, and any medical staff members who assisted an abortion in her case.

    Lawyers for Mr. Paxton’s office argued that the standard for determining what constitutes a serious threat was clear: a doctor’s “reasonable medical judgment” that a pregnancy posed such a risk; they said Ms. Cox did not meet that threshold.


    The original article contains 1,070 words, the summary contains 242 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!