Citing ‘trauma, criminal treatment’ 8 women join suit against Texas abortion laws

By CAROLINE VANDERGRIFF

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    NORTH TEXAS (KTVT) — Eight more women are joining a lawsuit against the state, alleging the current abortion laws in Texas put their lives at risk after they were denied abortion care when facing severe and dangerous pregnancy complications.

Texas law prohibits all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, except in medical emergencies or to save a woman’s life.

“Despite multiple repeated requests, Texas has done nothing to clarify the scope of its abortion bans, and every day, real people are suffering,” said Molly Duane, a lead attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, the legal group filing the lawsuit.

The lawsuit argues the plaintiffs “…and countless other pregnant people have been denied necessary and potentially life-saving obstetrical care because medical professionals throughout the state fear liability under Texas’s abortion bans.”

Attorneys are asking a Texas court to put an emergency hold on some of the state’s abortion restrictions, in order to clarify under what circumstances doctors can terminate pregnancies.

The new plaintiffs, who added their names to the lawsuit originally filed in March, said they were initially thrilled about their pregnancies before facing medical emergencies and pregnancy-related complications.

Kiersten Hogan, a new plaintiff who lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, found out she was pregnant in June of 2021. She says she was excited, but her abusive boyfriend wasn’t, so she decided to leave him and move to Texas.

“And when I moved here, I believed that I was creating a safe, loving home and environment for my son,” Hogan said. “I had already done a gender reveal party. I had already named him.”

However, at 19 weeks of pregnancy, her water broke, and she was rushed to the hospital.

It was just a few weeks after the state’s so-called “Heartbeat bill” had taken effect, banning nearly all abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.

Hogan says she was told she’d have to stay in the medical facility until she either went into labor or got sick enough for the hospital to give her an abortion. If she left, staff said she could face criminal charges.

“So it was just like four days of constant fear, constant trauma, being left in a situation of not knowing what was going to happen to me next,” she said.

Ultimately, Hogan delivered her son stillborn.

“He was so tiny and so perfect, and I didn’t want to leave him, but was there was nothing I could do,” Hogan said. “Texas law caused me to be detained against my will for five days and treated like a criminal all during the most traumatic and heartbreaking experience I’ve had in my life to date.”

That’s why Hogan is joining the 14 other Texas women in the lawsuit against the state.

“My hope is that it just really reaches the heart of people who have been callous to the word abortion before and understand that has a much bigger meaning and what it is they’re actually taking away from women,” she said.

When she was pregnant, Jessica Bernardo, a new plaintiff from Frisco, learned her daughter had several severe medical conditions, including fetal anasarca, and would not survive to birth. If she continued the pregnancy, Bernardo says she was also at risk of developing a potentially fatal condition called Mirror syndrome.

Bernardo had to travel to Seattle for an abortion and calls the experience the worst trauma of her life.

“As I grieved, I couldn’t help but think of what I and so many others have gone through as inhumane torture,” said Bernardo. “I’m speaking up now and joining this case because I never want another human being to go through what I and other Texans have been through. This has to be stopped.”

Plaintiffs are asking the court to give doctors clarity on what circumstances qualify as exceptions and allow doctors to use their own medical judgment without fear of prosecution.

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