Posted on Aug 9, 2023
How a trial in Texas changed the story of abortion rights in America
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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/08/09/ [login to see] /texas-abortion-law-trial-reproductive-rights
During the five decades that followed Roe v. Wade, lawsuit after lawsuit in states across the country chipped away at abortion rights. And again and again, the people who went to court to defend those rights were physicians who often spoke in clinical and abstract terms.
"The entirety of abortion rights history is a history of doctors appearing in court to represent their own interests and the interests of pregnant people," said Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas-Austin.
But in July, in a Texas courtroom, the case for abortion was made by women themselves who had been denied abortions and sued the state to clarify the exceptions to its ban, which makes it illegal to perform an abortion unless a patient is facing death or "substantial impairment of a major bodily function."
During the five decades that followed Roe v. Wade, lawsuit after lawsuit in states across the country chipped away at abortion rights. And again and again, the people who went to court to defend those rights were physicians who often spoke in clinical and abstract terms.
"The entirety of abortion rights history is a history of doctors appearing in court to represent their own interests and the interests of pregnant people," said Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas-Austin.
But in July, in a Texas courtroom, the case for abortion was made by women themselves who had been denied abortions and sued the state to clarify the exceptions to its ban, which makes it illegal to perform an abortion unless a patient is facing death or "substantial impairment of a major bodily function."
How a trial in Texas changed the story of abortion rights in America
Posted from npr.org
Abortion
Medical
Health
Rights
State of Texas
Posted 10 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The Texas lawsuit has highlighted the myriad reasons women and their families (at least two husbands were in the Austin courtroom) require abortion care throughout an entire pregnancy, Donley said.
In considering doing away with any limits on abortion, "we don't have to trust that women are perfect, benevolent mothers," Donley said. "We just have to believe they are rational actors."
After 24 weeks, most abortions require induced birth, she added. "So, we're imagining a person who, for no good reason, endured the burdens of pregnancy, watched her body change completely, and went through labor and delivery of a stillborn baby just because she couldn't get around to an abortion earlier? People have abortions late because horrible things happen."
Texas District Judge Jessica Mangrum on Aug. 4 ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, but the Texas attorney general has appealed the decision, blocking the order. The state's assistant attorney general, Amy Pletscher, had asked the court to dismiss the case. She told Mangrum that the "plaintiffs sustained their alleged injuries as a direct result of their own medical providers failing them."
But while the outcome of the case is uncertain, legal scholars said it marked the beginning of a new strategy for the abortion rights movement in the United States."
..."The Texas lawsuit has highlighted the myriad reasons women and their families (at least two husbands were in the Austin courtroom) require abortion care throughout an entire pregnancy, Donley said.
In considering doing away with any limits on abortion, "we don't have to trust that women are perfect, benevolent mothers," Donley said. "We just have to believe they are rational actors."
After 24 weeks, most abortions require induced birth, she added. "So, we're imagining a person who, for no good reason, endured the burdens of pregnancy, watched her body change completely, and went through labor and delivery of a stillborn baby just because she couldn't get around to an abortion earlier? People have abortions late because horrible things happen."
Texas District Judge Jessica Mangrum on Aug. 4 ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, but the Texas attorney general has appealed the decision, blocking the order. The state's assistant attorney general, Amy Pletscher, had asked the court to dismiss the case. She told Mangrum that the "plaintiffs sustained their alleged injuries as a direct result of their own medical providers failing them."
But while the outcome of the case is uncertain, legal scholars said it marked the beginning of a new strategy for the abortion rights movement in the United States."
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