Mother Of Doomed Fetus Flees Texas For Abortion As State Supremes Rule Against Her

A pregnant woman in Texas whose child has a terminal birth defect has fled the state after a week of legal whiplash over whether she qualifies for an exception to the state's abortion laws.

Last Thursday, Kate Cox was granted permission to have an abortion by a state district court - the first time a pregnant woman has sought a court order for the procedure since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

Hours later, however, Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) asked the state Supreme Court to immediately block the order. The Court agreed on an interim basis Friday night, followed by a 7-page ruling on Monday permanently denying Cox from having an abortion. Paxton went further following the Thursday ruling from District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, warning hospitals and physicians that the court's order would not protect them from prosecution if they performed an abortion on Cox - a procedure which could carry up to a life sentence in prison.

Their reasoning? While the Court acknowledged that Cox, 31, and her husband received "a tragic diagnosis," Texas law only allows for an exception in the event that the mother "has a life-threatening physical condition," making abortion necessary to save her life or to save her from "a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function" - which wasn't asserted in her request.