Amy O’Donnell, a policy analyst and communications director for the Texas Alliance for Life, acknowledged that abortion rights activists have skillfully used the Cox case to bring the national spotlight to their cause.
Kate Cox, who sued for the right to have an abortion after learning that her fetus had a condition that is nearly always fatal, left the state to get an abortion. The state Supreme Court ruled against her.
While saying “our hearts go out to the Cox family,” O’Donnell said abortion rights organizations are using “a lot of misinformation” about whether a baby can survive trisomy 18.
“It’s incredibly important that we educate Texans and people in general, not just on the issue around trisomy 18, and the fact that that’s not always fatal, and that every life is valuable and worthy of protection,” O’Donnell said. “But also that our laws clearly allow doctors to intervene to save a woman’s life or to save her from the risk of impairment, substantial impairment of a major bodily function such as fertility.”