By: John C. Moritz

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.”

By: Constitutional Nobody

“We are grateful that the Texas Supreme Court affirmed the protections in Texas law for the unborn baby in this case,” said Amy O’Donnell, Texas Alliance for Life’s communications director. “Texas Alliance for Life strongly supports the law, as passed by the Texas Legislature, that protects unborn babies from abortion but also protects the lives and health of pregnant mothers through limited exceptions.”

The Supreme Court pointed out that Texas’ law allows abortions when a pregnancy endangers a mother’s life or risks substantial impairment of a major bodily function (such as fertility) in a doctor’s reasonable medical judgment, an objective standard.

By: Selena Simmons-Duffin , Diane Webber , Michel Martin

Anti-abortion rights groups in Texas cheered the high court’s decision. “We are grateful that the Texas Supreme Court affirmed the protections in Texas law for the unborn baby in this case,” wrote Amy O’Donnell of Texas Alliance for Life. In a previous statement, the group said the Center for Reproductive Rights was using Cox’s case to “chisel away” at Texas’s abortion laws.

4. Texas doctors face malpractice on one side, felony charges on the other
In court and in legal filings, Paxton’s office has repeatedly argued that women with life-threatening pregnancies who did not get appropriate care in Texas can and should sue their doctors for malpractice.

At the same time, all of Texas’s abortion laws target doctors who perform abortions with penalties. Doctors face life in prison, fines of $100,000 and loss of their medical license.

By: Selena Simmons-Duffin

Texas Alliance for Life, a group that lobbied in the state legislature for the current abortion laws, published a statement about Cox’s case Wednesday. “We believe that the exception language in Texas laws is clear,” wrote the group’s communication director Amy O’Donnell, and accused the Center for Reproductive Rights of pretending to seek clarity while really attempting to “chisel away” at Texas’s abortion laws.

The timeline of this case was very quick. “I have to be honest, I’ve never done this before, and that’s because no one’s ever done this before,” Duane says. “But usually when you ask for a temporary restraining order, the court will act very, very quickly in acknowledgement of the emergency circumstances.”

The hearing was held via Zoom on Thursday morning.

The State of Texas cannot appeal the decision directly, says Duane. “They would have to file what’s called a writ of mandamus, saying that the district court acted so far out of its jurisdiction and that there needs to be a reversal,” Duane explains. “But filing a petition like that is not does not automatically stay the injunction the way that an appeal of a temporary injunction does.”

Deirdre Cooper, a public policy analyst for Texas Alliance for Life, gave a statement about her son Bosco, who died before birth from Trisomy 18, known as Edwards syndrome. “Carrying Bosco in my womb was the greatest honor of my life,” she said. “For four months, I had the privilege of sharing his story with anyone who asked about my pregnancy. Each day, I woke up thanking God that Bosco was still alive. We had been granted one more day with him — what a blessing! It also allowed us to plan his funeral and prepare our children for his impending death.”

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Texas Alliance for Life submitted an amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) brief on behalf of 92 members of the Texas Legislature, making the point that nowhere in the state constitution is there a right to abortion.

The Court is expected to issue a decision in the coming months.

By: Avery Martinez

Texas Alliance for Life, which was directly involved in the legislation around abortion laws in Texas says their stance on the law is on ethical concerns — and worries that a special interest group is trying to circumvent legislation passed by elected representatives through the courts.

Mental health for women can be directly impacted by childbirth — most famously through postpartum depression. It can happen to any woman — even after a miscarriage or stillbirth. Research from the National Institutes of Health show that as many as 20% of mothers can experience postpartum symptoms.