Five women, who said they were denied the opportunity to have an abortion despite a significant risk to their lives, sued the state of Texas.
This is the first case in which pregnant women are suing due to the restrictions imposed on abortion, following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the historic ruling in the 1970s, which gave women in the United States the right to an abortion.
The lawsuit filed on Monday asks a court in Austin, the capital of Texas, to clarify that doctors who perform abortions cannot be sued if, in their professional opinion, the procedure is necessary to prevent a risk to the woman's life or health.
Like the 13 other states that have imposed an almost blanket restriction on abortions, Texas allows exceptions when the doctor says it is a medical emergency.
However, the suit claims that the law in Texas is unclear, which causes doctors to refuse to perform abortions even in exceptional cases, due to the fear that their license to practice medicine will be revoked and that they will face a sentence of 99 years in prison.
Demonstration against the ban on abortion in the United States, in Ohio.
June 24, 2022 (Photo: Reuters)
Demonstration in favor of the right to abortion in the USA (Photo: Reuters)
On video: protest across the US against the abortion ban (Photo: Reuters)
Texas banned most abortions after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling in June, which granted the right to abortion across the United States.
A spokesman for Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas, said Paxton "will continue to defend and enforce the laws of the Texas legislature."
One of the plaintiffs, Amanda Zurowski, said she was hospitalized in Texas for ruptured membranes before giving birth.
According to her, it was impossible to save the fetus, but despite this, she was told that she could not have an abortion until the fetus's cardiac activity stopped, or her condition became life-threatening.
Zorowski said that she developed sepsis within days, which allowed the hospital to hasten the labor.
The other four women said they had to leave the country to have an abortion.
"I cannot adequately explain the trauma and despair that accompanies waiting for your death, or your child's death, or both," Zurowski said.
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