Vague health exceptions to extreme abortion bans aren’t just a Texas problem.
A Texas state court on Friday sided with a group of women and doctors suing the state, saying that exceptions to Texas’ stringent abortion restrictions are too vague and prevented or delayed people from getting abortion care when their lives or health were at risk.
The Texas Attorney General’s office filed an appeal in the case on Friday night, staying the injunction while the case is on appeal, according to the New York Times, and accusing Mangrum of trying “to override Texas abortion laws.”
Mangrum’s injunction would block SB 8’s vigilante enforcement mechanism from being enacted against any patients seeking abortions for medical reasons or against the physicians who perform those procedures — and furthermore states that doing so would violate pregnant people’s rights under Texas’s constitution.
Though Mangrum’s injunction is presently on hold, it’s important for two main reasons that are not exclusive to Texas: It forces clarity around abortion exceptions and protects doctors and patients; and it establishes that punishing people who seek or provide abortions under those circumstances is unconstitutional.
Though the eventual, final ruling will apply only to Texas, it’s not the only state where unclear legislation is limiting access to medically necessary abortion. And it’s not the only state where reproductive health advocates are grappling with the right to abortion under the state’s constitution. The vagueness and chilling effect are the point
As anti-abortion state legislators have enacted bans throughout the country, they’ve had to grapple with the complexities of abortion care and reproductive health. Most pregnancies are safe and healthy, but some cause severe complications or are not viable. Overturning Roe v. Wade didn’t change those conditions or provide better prenatal healthcare, it just made pregnancy more dangerous in many states.
With SB 8, Texas legislators not only passed a restrictive abortion ban but they empowered ordinary Texans to interpret and prosecute the ban. That compounds the risk for physicians who provide abortion care, in some sense, because they don’t know the conditions under which they can do so — or who might bring a $10,000 lawsuit against them for doing their jobs.
