A hearing in a lawsuit challenging Texas’ abortion ban opened Wednesday with dramatic testimony from three women who experienced serious pregnancy complications but were denied abortions.
One of the plaintiffs in the suit, Samantha Casiano, vomited on the stand while discussing her baby’s fatal birth defect, which she said also put her life at risk.
Casiano said she learned at 20 weeks’ gestation that her baby had anencephaly, a serious condition that meant the infant was missing parts of her brain and skull. Casiano said her obstetrician told her the baby would not survive after birth and gave her information about funeral homes.
Casiano read aloud a doctor\u2019s note that diagnosed her pregnancy as high risk, then began to sob and ultimately threw up, prompting the judge to call a recess.
After the hearing resumed, Casiano agreed with her lawyer\u2019s assessment that she’d had a physical reaction to the emotional trauma she experienced during pregnancy.
Recalling certain events \u201cjust makes my body remember and it just reacts,\u201d Casiano said.
Casiano is part of a group of 13 women and two OB-GYNs who are suing the state of Texas. The lawsuit, filed in March by the Center for Reproductive Rights, asks the court to clarify the types of situations that constitute a medical emergency under Texas’ abortion laws.
The Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs decision in June 2022 triggered a ban in Texas that outlawed all abortions, except to save the life of a pregnant woman. Prior to that, the state had banned abortions after the detection of a so-called fetal heartbeat \u2014 around six weeks into the pregnancy. Physicians who violate Texas\u2019s abortion laws can lose their medical licenses, face up to 99 years in prison or incur fines of at least $100,000, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
The two-day hearing that began Wednesday pertains to a request from the plaintiffs that the judge issue a temporary injunction blocking Texas’ abortion bans from applying to high-risk pregnancies. The state has asked that the lawsuit be dismissed.
Following the testimonies, Judge Jessica Mangrum will issue decisions on both motions.
The case is the first in which women who were denied abortions have sued a state since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
All three women who testified cried during their statements as they recalled the trauma of carrying nonviable pregnancies. Amanda Zurawski, the lead plaintiff, said she nearly died from sepsis \u2014 a life-threatening infection \u2014 after being denied an abortion when her water broke at 18 weeks.
Ashley Brandt, a Dallas resident, said she was pregnant with twins but learned one had a fatal condition called acrania. The longer she carried it, the more it jeopardized the survival of her other twin.
Brandt traveled out of state and received an abortion in Colorado to terminate the nonviable fetus. She gave birth to a healthy baby at 38 weeks. In her testimony, she said that if she had not gotten the abortion, she would likely have given birth to twins prematurely, only one of whom would have lived.
\u201cI would have had to give birth to an identical version of my daughter without a skull and without a brain and hold her until she died,\u201d Brandt said.
Casiano, meanwhile, said she considered seeking an abortion in another state but was scared she might face penalties or lose her job.
\u201cI felt like I was imprisoned in my own body,\u201d she said.
She went into early labor in March, she said, and her baby \u2014 whom she named Halo \u2014 died four hours after birth.
\u201cI now have a psychiatrist,\u201d Casiano said. \u201cI now vomit a lot more. I\u2019ve never vomited before like that, ever, before my pregnancy. My body\u2019s never reacted that way.\u201d
The plaintiffs’ lawyers said Wednesday that confusion over when physicians can legally perform abortions in cases like Casiano’s results in tragedy for some Texas residents.
Attorneys for the state argued that the plaintiffs simply don\u2019t like the way Texas’ abortion law is written, and suggested they should direct their legal challenges at their medical providers instead.
The women who testified each said they blamed Texas law, not their doctors, for their harrowing experiences. Dr. Damla Karsan, another plaintiff and a Houston-based OB-GYN, also testified that she wasn’t sure how to interpret the exemption in Texas law that allows abortions in cases with “serious risk of death or impairment.”
On Thursday, more testimonies are expected from witnesses for the plaintiffs and defense \u2014 this time primarily doctors and experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n