AP Photo/Eric Gay
- A Texas woman had to go before a court for permission to abort her fetus with a fatal abnormality.
- State Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened to prosecute the woman's healthcare team.
- He appealed the court order, which has been stayed, throwing Kate Cox's abortion in flux.
Kate Cox was devastated to learn that her dearly desired pregnancy would almost certainly end in death, stillbirth, or a short and painful life. Her baby was diagnosed with trisomy 18, a rare fetal abnormality. If carried to term, the pregnancy could risk Cox's health and future fertility, her doctors told her.
Cox feared that carrying her pregnancy to term would expose her baby to intense suffering, and would jeopardize the life she shared with her husband and two young children. So she chose to seek termination of her pregnancy.