Why are women suing Texas over the state’s abortion laws?

Back in March, several women in Texas signed onto a lawsuit brought against the state, challenging its punitive abortion law that they say put their lives at risk. Since the initial suit was filed, over a dozen other plaintiffs have signed on, including doctors who feel that they could be punished for doing their jobs and protecting the lives of their patients.

In Texas, abortion is banned in almost all cases. There are exceptions for situations where the patient’s life is in danger, but the state determines that standard. This legal grey area put patients in a dangerous position, with some doctors unwilling to perform abortions in cases where they wouldn’t have thought twice before the law was implemented.

The lawyers bringing the case forward have stated that “Texans have suffered catastrophic harms because of those bans” and that the law has caused people across Texas, and other states with similar bans, to suffer “unnecessary physical and emotional pain and harm, [and] loss of their fertility.”

The case of Amanda Zurawski

The stories of the women included in the case are horrific and highlight the dangers of these laws.

Stories like that of Amanda Zurawski explain why the lawsuit is being brought forward. Amanda had become pregnant after over a year of fertility treatments. However, at the seventeen-week mark, she was diagnosed with an “incompetent cervix,” which causes the “premature dilation of the cervix.” Doctors informed her and her husband that their baby would not survive, and she was sent home, only to return a few hours later after her water broke. However, because a fetal heartbeat could be identified, and Amanda’s health was deemed “stable,” she was once again discharged. In such a state, doctors were concerned that providing her with an abortion could lead them in legal trouble. The two days that followed were devastating for Amanda and her family, who were simultaneously “grieving her inevitable loss and worrying about her own health.”

On Thursday, Amanda’s condition took a turn for the worse, battling an infection that led to a high fever. Her condition prompted her medical team to induce labor, which the hospital did not see as a violation of the law. Amanda gave birth to her deceased daughter, Willow, and as if not difficult enough, her own health continued to deteriorate, landing her in the ICU for three days. The infections led her to develop scar tissue all over her reproductive organs that will make it much more challenging to get pregnant in the future. Lawyers argue that these complications could have been avoided if she had been allowed to have an abortion when doctors first determined that her pregnancy was not viable. Instead, the state’s law created a nightmare for Amanda and others like her.