AUSTIN, Texas — On Tuesday, the Texas Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit challenging a key part of the state’s abortion law.
Current Texas law bans and criminalizes abortion unless the mother’s life is in danger. However, plaintiffs said the exception is unclear. The women and doctors want clarity from the courts on when the procedure is allowed under the law.
The Center for Reproductive Rights filed the lawsuit in March on behalf of Texas women facing serious pregnancy complications who were denied abortions.
“We are not talking about hypothetical harms. These are real patients, many of whom are sitting in the courtroom today," , Center for Reproductive Rights attorney Molly Duane argued.
She told the nine justices that the law is too vague, leaving women at risk and doctors scared of going to prison.
But Beth Klusman with the Texas Attorney General’s Office argued the law allows abortions during life-threatening pregnancies.
“If, as she said, a woman is bleeding or has amniotic fluid running out of her legs, then the problem’s not with the law. That is with the doctors," Klusmann said.
The justices questioned both sides.
“I’m struggling to understand your standing argument,” Justice Jeff Boyd told Klusmann.
“This could potentially open the door far more widely than you’re acknowledging," Justice Jimmy Blalock said to Duane.
“So why isn’t she suing her doctors? That sounds like medical negligence to me," Justice Brett Busby asked Duane.
After the hearing, several plaintiffs publicly defended their doctors.
Lauren Miller says her out-of-state abortion saved her life and one of her twins after learning the other was not viable.
“She delivered him and gave him to me and my words were, ‘You made it’. That was my first words to my son," Miller told us. "It wasn’t ‘Hi, little one!’ It was, ‘You made it.’ I mean, and I thank you for that too."
Meanwhile, members of Texas Alliance for Life believe the law’s language is clear.
“If a woman’s life should be threatened by such a pregnancy, the law does allow the doctor to intervene," Amy O’Donnell with Texas Alliance for Life claimed. "That child’s heart does not have to stop beating first, her death does not have to be imminent, she does not have to be septic.”
O’Donnell said doctors should look to the Texas Medical Board for clarification.
Lawyers say the justices could dismiss this lawsuit or send the case back to a lower court for trial and a final resolution. A decision isn't likely for weeks or possibly months.