Kate Cox

In 2023, lifelong Texan Kate Cox learned that her pregnancy had Trisomy 18 and had no chance of survival. Seeking an emergency abortion, Cox contacted the Center for Reproductive Rights who filed the case Cox v. Texas, requesting that the state of Texas temporarily block its abortion ban so that she could receive the healthcare she needed. A state court ruled in Cox’s favor. Hours later, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the state Supreme Court to block the order. Cox then traveled out of Texas for abortion care. While she was out of state, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that it would not allow her to receive abortion care in the state.

An Open Letter to Rep. Kat Cammack From a Medical Doctor: It’s Abortion Bans That Make Doctors Afraid to Act, Not ‘the Radical Left’

No woman may escape the cruelty of the nebulous and varying restrictions on reproductive healthcare in the post-Roe world—as Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) discovered in May 2024 when faced with a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy shortly after Florida’s six-week abortion ban took effect. Concerned by the lack of clarity in the wording of the law on the limits of intervention in pregnant patients, doctors reportedly delayed administering intramuscular methotrexate to terminate the pregnancy, out of fear of prosecution.

I’m a doctor. In this chaotic landscape, where reproductive healthcare policy and medical reality appear woefully divorced, my colleagues and I don’t know what misstep could land us in senseless litigation or with felony charges.

Rep. Cammack, your voice and your story have power. I hope you use them to reintroduce nuance and common sense to the discussion on women’s lives. There are many of us who will extend a hand across the aisle and work together with you to right some of the senseless wrongs. 

How Abortion Protects Us From the Choices We Can’t Make

I was thrilled to hear DNC speakers say the word “abortion,” speaking up on behalf of reproductive freedom. But I tensed up whenever someone spoke in terms of protecting women’s “decisions” about pregnancy.

There is a lot about pregnancy that happens in the absence of any decision at all, or in spite of the decisions people make—like an ectopic pregnancy, or a spontaneous miscarriage, or pregnancy as a result of sexual abuse. That’s why we must ensure that the law, something we can control, does not cruelly add to families’ experiences of powerlessness, pain and loss.

Texas Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Abortion Laws

The Texas Supreme Court has unanimously rejected the most significant challenge to Texas’ new abortion laws yet, ruling Friday that the medical exceptions in the law were broad enough to withstand constitutional challenge.

The initial lawsuit was filed in March 2023, and unlike previous wholesale, pre-enforcement challenges to abortion bans, this case focused on a very narrow argument—women with complicated pregnancies were being denied medically necessary abortions because doctors were unclear on how and when they could act. Amanda Zurawski, the named plaintiff in the suit, was 18 weeks pregnant with a daughter they’d named Willow when she experienced preterm prelabor rupture of membranes. Despite the condition being fatal to the fetus and posing significant risks to the pregnant patient, her doctors refused to terminate the pregnancy because there was still fetal cardiac activity. Eventually, Zurawski went into sepsis and spent three days in the intensive care unit. While she survived, the infection has made it difficult for her and her husband to conceive again.

“The people in the building behind me have the power to fix this, yet they’ve done nothing,” Zurawski said. “So it’s not just for me, and for our Willow, that I stand here before you today—it’s for every pregnant person, and for everyone who knows and loves a pregnant person.”

Our Abortion Stories: ‘Kate Cox’s Story Is One of Millions That Must Be Shared, and This Is Mine.’

“My husband and I chose the safety and stability of our family over the risks of another pregnancy. We wanted to ensure that my daughter had a mother, and I wanted my husband to have a wife. … As we brace and prepare for potential shifts this year, the power of telling our personal reproductive stories can be a catalyst for change and a beacon of solidarity. I hope that by telling my full story, others will be encouraged to do the same by knowing that they are not alone. ”

Share your abortion story by emailing myabortionstory@msmagazine.com.

All Eyes on Texas: Republicans and Business Leaders Decry Court Ruling Denying Kate Cox’s Abortion

A Texas Supreme Court ruling that forced Kate Cox to leave the state to terminate a nonviable pregnancy attracted the ire of even some Republicans, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. And this week, 51 businesses signed onto an amicus brief in support of the 22 women suing Texas over its abortion bans, expressing difficulty in attracting employees and doing business in the state.

Abortion and women’s rights will be determining factors in the 2024 elections. Candidates who don’t take that into account will face severe headwinds—because unfortunately, stories like Cox’s are just going to keep happening. And voters aren’t turning a blind eye.

Keeping Score: Arizona Supreme Court Weighs 1864-Era Abortion Ban; Kate Cox Is Denied an Abortion; Women Call Out Toxic Workplaces

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: Texas Supreme Court blocks Kate Cox from receiving an abortion; judge prohibits Trump-era policy of separating families at the border; women call out toxic workplaces, from New Jersey police to banking regulator FDIC; President Biden appoints record number of women and people of color as federal judges; young Americans are excited to vote in 2024; guaranteed income programs may help maternal health outcomes; and more.

Welcome to the New Jane Crow

The Supreme Court of Texas notched itself into a troubling tapestry of U.S. legal history when it overturned a district court ruling that allowed Kate Cox, a 31-year-old Texas woman, to end her nonviable pregnancy. The state is committed to forcing Cox to remain pregnant, against her will and medical recommendations.

Women in Texas are living in a new Jane Crow. 

Texas Supreme Court Overturns Ruling That Would Have Allowed Kate Cox to Terminate Nonviable Pregnancy

After a week of legal whiplash and threats of prosecution from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Kate Cox has been forced to leave Texas to get healthcare in another state, the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) announced on Monday. Cox’s fetus has a fatal condition and continuing the pregnancy threatens her future fertility. “Her health is on the line,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO at CRR. “She’s been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn’t wait any longer.”

Paxton had petitioned the state Supreme Court just before midnight Thursday to intervene and stop a Dallas woman from having an abortion—after a Travis County district judge granted a temporary restraining order allowing Cox, 31, to terminate her nonviable pregnancy. Paxton also sent a letter to three hospitals, threatening legal action if they allowed the abortion to be performed at their facility. On Friday evening, the state Supreme Court temporarily halted the lower court’s order but did not rule on the merits of the case. The court said it would rule on the temporary restraining order, but did not specify when.

Texas Supreme Court Halts Emergency Order from Lower Court Judge Allowing Kate Cox to Abort Fetus With Lethal Abnormality

For the first time in at least 50 years, a judge has intervened to allow an adult woman to terminate her pregnancy.

Kate Cox, 31, at 20 weeks pregnant, has learned her fetus has a lethal abnormality that is almost always fatal at birth. After a 45-minute Zoom hearing Thursday, Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled that Cox should be allowed to terminate the pregnancy, and that Dr. Damla Karsan, a Houston OB-GYN, should be protected from civil and criminal penalties if she performs the procedure. The state cannot directly appeal Thursday’s order, since it is a temporary restraining order. Instead, the Office of the Attorney General would have to file a writ of mandamus petition, asking a higher court to take the extraordinary measure of overturning the emergency order.