AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge on Thursday gave a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis permission to get an abortion in an unprecedented challenge over bans that more than a dozen states have enacted since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, an elected Democrat, said she would grant a temporary restraining order that would allow Cox to have an abortion under what are narrow exceptions to Texas’ ban.
Since that landmark ruling, Texas and 12 other states rushed to ban abortion at nearly all stages of pregnancy.
Pregnant women cannot be criminally charged for having an abortion in Texas.
A judge later ruled that Texas’ ban was too restrictive for women with pregnancy complications, but that decision was swiftly put on hold after the state appealed.
More than 40 woman have received abortions in Texas since the ban took effect, according to state health figures, none of which have resulted in criminal charges.
There were more than 16,000 abortions in Texas in the five months prior to the ban taking effect last year. »
