A pro-abortion group filed a lawsuit today, aiming to block Texas’ Pro-Life laws completely. (Cox v. Texas)
Pregnant mothers and their babies deserve compassion and love, not to be used as instruments by pro-abortion groups.
The Center for Reproductive Rights seeks to conflate two separate issues: the risk to the mother and the child’s disability.
Texas law clearly permits abortion in situations where the mother’s life is in jeopardy or if she would face a serious injury because of her pregnancy. Pro-Life policies do not require the threat to be “imminent,” only that the severe medical risk be foreseeable. Yet, perhaps most disgustingly, the Center for Reproductive Rights is using a severe pregnancy condition as a gateway to allow for prematurely ending the lives of preborn babies with illnesses like Trisomy 18. Every child is uniquely precious and should continue to be protected in law no matter how long or short the baby’s life may be. The compassionate approach to these heartbreaking diagnoses is perinatal palliative care, which honors, rather than ends, the child’s life.
If a woman’s pregnancy puts her at risk of rupture or future infertility, a doctor can intervene, as clearly described by the “medical emergency” definition in state law that anticipates “serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless an abortion is performed.”
This lawsuit from the Center for Reproductive Rights would be unnecessary if not for the group’s intention to allow babies to be aborted for any reason—not just when the mother’s life is at risk.
Texas Right to Life Director of Media and Communication Kimberlyn Schwartz responded:
“Ms. Cox’s story is heartbreaking because all of us recognize that she and her child are equally valuable and loved by God. If you feel compassion for this situation like us, it is because we all know that there are two lives at stake and that both are supremely important. The answer is not to end the child’s life because of the baby’s disability, but state law does anticipate the serious risk to the mother.”
While we call for better educational and regulatory efforts from medical groups and health agencies to address life-threatening circumstances, Texas has more to offer mothers and their families than abortion. Nonprofits across Texas, such as Abel Speaks, help parents honor their children’s lives when facing severe fetal diagnoses. Visit AbelSpeaks.org for assistance or more information.