On the second anniversary of the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs decision, women who sued the state of Texas in a high-profile lawsuit over exceptions to its abortion ban say their experiences have made abortion a defining issue for them heading into the November election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Texas Supreme Court last month, in Zurawski v. State of Texas, ruled against a group of women\u2002<\/a>who had sued after they were denied abortions despite serious health complications during pregnancy. The group, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, grew to include a total of 20 women and two obstetrician-gynecologists who sought more specific guidelines about what situations qualify for medical emergency exceptions to Texas\u2019 strict ban. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The state Supreme Court rejected their challenge, however, saying that Texas law does not permit abortion even when a fetus has a severe abnormality, and that it is up to doctors to determine when terminating a pregnancy is warranted under the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Samantha Casiano, one of the plaintiffs, said the experience of being denied an abortion brought home the reality of how severe Texas\u2019 restrictions are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow, everyone in my family has to vote,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you\u2019ve never voted before, you\u2019re going to vote this year. I will drive you there. It\u2019s just so important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Casiano was pregnant and living in East Texas with her husband and four children when she learned in December 2022 that her fetus had anencephaly, a fatal condition in which the brain and skull do not fully develop. She did not have the finances or child care to travel out of state for an abortion, so she carried the pregnancy to term and gave birth, only to watch her baby die within hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWaking up every morning, knowing that your child is going to die and planning your child\u2019s funeral before your child\u2019s even here is insane, and it\u2019s unfair. There\u2019s just a lot of suffering there,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Casiano said supporting abortion access is especially important to her because she has a 3-year-old daughter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLater on, she\u2019s going to be a mother. I have nieces that are going to be mothers, and I want them to have the health care that they need,\u201d she said. \u201cIf, God forbid, they need it, it should be there for them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n One in 10 women say the right to abortion is the most important issue determining their vote<\/a>, according to a survey published last week by KFF<\/a>, a health care research and policy organization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Five states \u2014 Colorado, Florida, Maryland, New York and South Dakota \u2014 have abortion rights on the November ballot, and similar measures are pending in six more. Organizers in Montana on Friday submitted the required number of signatures<\/a> to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot there that would enshrine abortion access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texas \u2014 where abortions are prohibited unless a patient has a life-threatening emergency and where doctors risk fines of at least $100,000, up to 99 years in prison and the loss of their medical licenses for performing abortions \u2014 does not have an abortion measure on the ballot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The state\u2019s medical board on Friday issued updated guidance<\/a> for doctors about its abortion ban but refused to provide a list of specific medical conditions<\/a> that would qualify as an exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cExceptions do not exist. They are a lie. They don\u2019t exist in practice,\u201d said Lauren Miller, another plaintiff in the Zurawski case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe just shouldn\u2019t be in a situation where there is a defined point at which your bodily autonomy is forfeited to the state,\u201d Miller added. \u201cPeople\u2019s lives are on the line.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Miller, who is from Dallas, was excited when she learned she was pregnant with twins in September 2022. But at 12 weeks\u2019 gestation, she found out that one twin had trisomy 18, a life-threatening condition that also threatened the health of Miller and the other fetus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n