Kate Cox exposes the ‘pro-life’ politics of death, fear and control

Over the last week, millions of people have learned Kate Cox’s name. The Dallas mother of two’s courageous decision to sue the state of Texas for permission to have an abortion has made nationwide headlines amid her ongoing medical crisis involving multiple trips to the emergency room to manage complications from her much-wanted but nonviable pregnancy.

After an Austin court initially ruled that Cox could legally access abortion care in her home state, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton began waging a grisly campaign to force Cox to stay pregnant against her will, even though her condition puts her life, her health and her future fertility in limbo. Late last week, at Paxton’s behest, the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court paused the lower court’s ruling, blocking Cox’s ability to access abortion near home with no indication of when it might issue an opinion. On Monday, her legal team at the Center for Reproductive Rights announced that Cox had decided to leave Texas to access abortion elsewhere “due to the ongoing deterioration” of her health. It wasn’t until later that day that the Texas Supreme Court finally ruled that, essentially, Cox’s abortion couldn’t be medically necessary, in part because her doctor had gone to court to confirm that it was medically necessary.