Kate Cox, the Texas woman who had to leave her state to seek an abortion, hadn’t paid much attention to politics before she had to end a life-threatening pregnancy.
Now, after a legal battle that garnered national attention, she’s outspoken about the toll that politicizing such health decisions takes on women and families and is expected to attend the president’s Thursday State of the Union address as a guest of first lady Jill Biden.
“Pregnancies are complicated and it’s difficult sometimes to build your family so it’s really terrifying when that’s left up to politicians and judges,” Cox told CNN’s Dana Bash in a sit-down interview ahead of the address.
The Texas Supreme Court’s decision to block Cox from receiving an abortion after her fetus had been diagnosed with a rare and deadly genetic condition called trisomy 18 was “crushing,” she told Bash.
Cox, who was 20 weeks pregnant at the time, sued the state of Texas, arguing that carrying her pregnancy to term would be life-threatening and asking a court to declare that she had the right to terminate it. While Texas law bans abortions after approximately six weeks of pregnancy, it makes limited exceptions, including to save the life of the mother.
The state Supreme Court swiftly reversed a lower-court ruling, saying Cox’s doctor did not establish her symptoms were life-threatening – prompting her to travel to New Mexico to undergo an abortion. Having to seek the procedure out of state, she said, “added a lot of pain and suffering to what was already the most devastating time of our lives.”
“I’m just one,” Cox told Bash. “There’s a lot of women and families that are suffering because of the laws in Texas today.”
Cox’s experience underscores just how contentious…
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