Five women are suing Texas over its abortion law, saying state regulations banned them from having procedures even though their pregnancies were life-threatening.
The lawsuit is the first to be brought over abortion denials after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, reports The Washington Examiner.
In their lawsuit, the women say their pregnancies carried the risk of hemorrhage or life-threatening infections, and they are calling on the court to clarify what exceptions the Texas abortion laws allow.
"The lawsuit aims to hold the state of Texas accountable for the consequences of multiple harmful abortion bans on pregnant people facing obstetric complications," the Center for Reproductive Rights said on Twitter. The organization is representing the women in their case.
According to Texas law, abortions are banned in the state, but there are some exceptions, including having "a life-threatening physical condition aggravated, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function."
Amanda Zurawski, one of the lawsuit's plaintiffs, was just 17 weeks pregnant last year when her water broke. Her doctors would not induce labor, citing the Texas abortion laws. She developed sepsis before doctors intervened.
"You don't think you're somebody who's going to need an abortion, let alone an abortion to save my life," Zurawski said in an interview with The New York Times.
First lady Jill Biden invited Zurawski and her husband to last month's State of the Union speech after the case got national attention as an example of the issues with states' restrictive abortion laws.
Anti-abortion groups such as the Susan B. Anthony List, however, say all states with abortion bans build exemptions into them.
"Every pro-life law in the country allows necessary and timely medical treatment to save the life of a pregnant woman in an emergency," the organization tweeted after Zurawski and her husband attended Biden's speech.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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