On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing the state of abortion in Texas. Last year, Texas banned abortions with no exceptions for fetal anomalies. Every abortion clinic in the state shut down.
Last month, for the very first time in the US, 13 women who were forced to carry their high-risk pregnancies to term sued the state saying they were denied life-saving abortion care because the law’s medical exception term was too vague.
Samantha Casiano, a 29-year-old mom of four, began vomiting from the witness stand as she testified that the state's abortion ban forced her to slowly watch her baby die.
After hearing harrowing testimony from other women, Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum temporarily blocked parts of the ban. A few hours later, the office of the Texas Attorney General filed an appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, which blocked the ruling and left the extreme abortion law in place.
Guest:
Astrid Ackerman, staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights
Web Resources:
NPR: In Texas, abortion laws inhibit care for miscarriages
Texas Tribune: Texas laws say treatments for miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies remain legal but leave lots of space for confusion
The Intercept: Testifying against Texas, women denied abortions relive the pregnancies that almost killed them
