Kate Cox, the Dallas-area woman who unsuccessfully sued the state of Texas for permission to abort a nonviable pregnancy, announced on CNN Thursday night that she is pregnant again.
Cox filed the lawsuit in December 2023, asking the state to allow her to obtain an abortion under a medical exemption clause in Texas law, which allows for abortions in cases where there is a risk of a “life-threatening physical condition” or “significant impairment of a major bodily function.”
It was the first lawsuit filed by a pregnant woman asking the court to approve an abortion after Texas banned abortion in almost all cases following the lapse of Roe v. Wade.
A lower court judge allowed her request, but the Texas Supreme Court overturned that ruling on appeal, six days after the lawsuit was first filed — the same day Cox left the state to have the abortion.
“I’m grateful that I was able to access medical care and make compassionate decisions for my family,” Cox told CNN.
Cox, who was 20 weeks pregnant when the lawsuit began, learned after multiple emergency room visits and further testing that her baby had been diagnosed with complete trisomy 18, a condition that means the baby has an extremely low chance of surviving after birth if it isn’t stillborn. Cox’s lawsuit also alleged that because she had previously had two C-sections and her vital signs were elevated, she was at risk for serious complications to her health and future fertility.
In an interview with CNN, Cox said that although tests show that she and her son are three months pregnant and healthy, she feels a mixture of joy and anxiety because pregnancy complications can arise at any time.
“In the state where I live, if there’s an emergency, you call your lawyer first and then your doctor,” she said. “How backwards is that?”
She regularly hears from women who are going through similarly complicated pregnancies, and says: [of] Strict anti-abortion laws.”
Cox also called on lawmakers to listen to the women who have been speaking out since federal abortion protections were ended.
“We have to legislate based on the women who actually exist,” she said.
Staff writer Marin Wolf contributed to this report.
