Is abortion medically necessary in Texas?

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 12th of December, 2023. This is WORLD Radio, and thank you for joining us today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST:And I’m Nick Eicher. Up first on The World and Everything in It: exceptions to abortion laws.

Last Tuesday, the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit on behalf of 31-year-old Texan Kate Cox.

Unlike other women who have sued the state for its pro-life laws, Cox is later into pregnancy currently more than 20 weeks.

She claimed she qualified for a medical exception. And on Thursday, a judge granted Cox permission to take her child’s life despite the law that would otherwise protect it.

REICHARD: But the Texas attorney general appealed the decision to the Texas Supreme Court, arguing that Cox doesn’t qualify under the exception. So then, on Friday, it placed a hold on the abortion order to take time to consider it. And rather than wait for a ruling, Cox decided yesterday to pursue her abortion in another state.

EICHER: Texas law only allows abortions when the pregnancy puts the woman at risk of death or major physical injury. While Cox’s physician says she does face increased risk of certain medical complications, the only actual diagnosis mentioned in the original court filing is the one her baby received.

REICHARD: A quick word to parents: this report will include discussion, in medical terms, of some aspects of pregnancy, childbirth, and abortion procedures. So if you have young ones nearby, you may want to listen later.

WORLD’s Leah Savas takes a closer look at the facts of this case and the diagnosis behind this request for an abortion.

KATE COX: I want the opportunity to get the health care I need and heal and then try again.

LEAH SAVAS, REPORTER: That’s Kate Cox in an interview with NBC News. On Nov. 28, test results showed that her third baby has trisomy 18. Also known as Edwards syndrome, the genetic condition results from an extra copy of chromosome 18. It can cause growth delays, birth defects, and intellectual disabilities.

According to a petition filed with a Travis County court in Texas a week later, the diagnosis meant Cox’s baby may not survive the pregnancy. If she did, she would likely be stillborn or only survive for days at most. Here’s Cox again on MSNBC.

KATE COX: We’re going through the loss of a child. There’s no outcome here that I take home my healthy baby girl.

But that’s not the whole truth about trisomy 18. Yes, most of these babies die before or during birth. But while no more than 10 percent of these babies who make it through birth live past their first birthday, sometimes people with this condition survive for years, even decades. The daughter of former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum has trisomy 18 and celebrated her 15th birthday this year. And in 2020, the oldest known trisomy 18 survivor in the United States turned 40.

Knowing stories like these encouraged another mother named Deirdre Cooper when doctors diagnosed her unborn son Bosco with trisomy 18 in 2020. Cooper is a public policy analyst for Texas Alliance for Life.

DEIRDRE COOPER: Seeing that there are families raising children with trisomy 18, they're living and that's something that, you know, the doctors don't really tell you that very often they say there's, you know, 1% chance they make it to their first birthday.

But for Kate Cox, the doctors are focused on the risks the pregnancy poses to her health and future fertility.

The court filing says Cox has gone to the emergency room for cramping and unidentifiable fluid leaks. It says continuing to carry her baby puts Cox at increased risk of conditions like gestational diabetes and hypertension. Here’s Cox again on MSNBC:

KATE COX: Forcing me to continue the pregnancy, the pain and suffering, put me through the risks of continuing the pregnancy, the risks childbirth, again, especially given how my last two went—I think it's cruel.

Delivering the baby through a C-section or a vaginal birth could also damage her reproductive organs, since Cox has already had two C-sections with previous pregnancies. The doctors recommend a D&E—or dismemberment abortion—as a “safer” alternative.

But many pregnant women face similar risks. Cox herself faces the same possibility of a C-section or vaginal birth in future pregnancies. Now and later, there’s no guarantee she will experience these complications.

JOHN SEAGO: There still are alternatives. And there still is uncertainty that this will actually be the outcome of the pregnancy continuing.

That’s John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life.

SEAGO: And what we have noticed is that they are lowering the standard on the health of the woman’s side, because they don't value the life of the child as much.

Texas Alliance for Life executive director Joe Pojman believes the pro-abortion law firm representing Cox wants to use this case to chip away at the state’s pro-life laws.

JOE POJMAN: They think any increased risk to a mother's life, no matter how minute … would make her case available for an abortion.

And the abortion procedure Cox’s doctors point to as a safer alternative to giving birth is hardly compassionate and comes with its own risks.

JOE POJMAN: She's talking about a dilation and evacuation. That is the type of abortion done late in pregnancy when the baby is dismembered with grasping-like instruments, dismembered limb from limb, and the head ultimately crushed. That is not a compassionate method of death.

While pregnant with Bosco, Cooper was concerned about being able to have children in the future. She had been through a C-section for a past pregnancy and wanted to avoid the risks of another.

COOPER: But the problem is you can't discard the child you have here now in hopes of having a better child in the future. That's just, it's still discrimination. And the child that you have here now, he deserves your love and your protection. And he deserves a shot at life.

Cooper gave birth to Bosco vaginally in April 2021. Sadly, the family didn’t get the little bit of time they were hoping to have with him. Bosco died during labor.

But what Cooper, her husband, and their kids did get was a chance to see Bosco.

COOPER: Every appointment and every sonogram, they wanted to tell you everything that was wrong with him. When he was born, he didn't look that abnormal. He just looked like all of our other precious babies, just a little bit smaller. But he was beautiful.

That’s the kind of memory Kate Cox won’t have if she gets the abortion she’s fighting for.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leah Savas.

EICHER: A personal word now.

When I first heard about this story and the condition of the child it brought back lots of memories for my wife and me. Memories of our daughter Katherine, our third child, 28 years ago. She died as a four-month-old infant because Katherine, too, had Trisomy 18 like the child in Texas.

I’m not saying this to substitute my judgment for this family. I don’t know all of their details. But we were young parents, too, in 1995, a little scared, too, and yet God took good care of us. Wouldn’t trade her life and the time we had with her for anything, because God made Katherine exactly as He wanted to make her. And she changed our lives for the better. I think we’re a little more patient, a little more compassionate. And speaking of that, my heart goes out to the family. I fear they’re on a path to miss a blessing God means for them to have. She mentions doing this for the purpose of having more children. I’ll just say: In addition to her elder sister and brother, Katherine has two younger brothers she hasn’t met yet.

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