A Texas judge ruled on Friday that the state must allow doctors to provide abortions to pregnant women whose health or lives are in danger, or whose fetuses have little likelihood of survival.
The ruling broadens and clarifies the limited exceptions granted in the state’s bans, among the strictest in the country.
And it temporarily bars state officials — until the full case is decided — from prosecuting doctors who, in their “good faith judgment and in consultation with the pregnant person,” determine that an abortion is medically necessary.
In her ruling, Judge Jessica Mangrum, elected as a Democrat in 2020, wrote that “the uncertainty regarding the scope of the medical exception and the related threat of enforcement of Texas’ abortion bans has created an imminent risk” for doctors who “will have no choice but to bar or delay the provision of abortion care” to women who require the procedure to prevent death or serious health risks.
The ruling was in response to a lawsuit from 13 women who had been denied abortions despite pregnancy complications that they said caused grave and potentially fatal risks to their health.
Persons:
Jessica Mangrum, ”
Locations:
Texas