Southwest
Texas Supreme Court rejects challenge to state abortion ban's medical exceptions
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected a lawsuit challenging the state’s abortion ban over its medical exceptions.
The court ruled against a group of women who suffered serious pregnancy complications and became the first in the country to testify in court about being denied abortion access since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
In a unanimous ruling, the court upheld the Texas law after the women filed a lawsuit in March 2023 seeking clarity on when exceptions to the abortion ban are permitted, arguing the law was confusing for doctors who might turn away patients over fears of repercussions.
The same issue was at the center of a separate lawsuit brought last year by Dallas mother Kate Cox, who sought court permission to obtain an abortion after her fetus developed a fatal condition during a pregnancy that resulted in multiple trips to an emergency room. She eventually left the state to have the procedure.
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Demonstrators march and gather near the Texas state Capitol in Austin following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The court said Friday that the law’s exceptions are broad enough and that doctors would be misinterpreting the law if they decided not to perform an abortion when the mother’s life is in danger.
“Texas law permits a life-saving abortion,” the court wrote in the order signed by Justice Jane Bland.
The decision closed, at least for now, another pathway for opponents who have attempted to force the state to provide more clarity about when exceptions to abortions are allowed. Last year, plaintiffs in the lawsuit testified in court how they carried babies they knew would not survive and continued with pregnancies that put their health at risk.
Plaintiff Kaitlyn Kash, whose fetus developed severe skeletal dysplasia, was told even the simplest movements could break its bones in utero. Her life was not threatened, but she still chose to leave Texas for an abortion.
“I wanted to end my child’s pain before it could begin,” Kash said. “The state just told me that as a mother, I don’t have the right to make those decisions for my child. … If you want to grow your family, if you want to have children, you should get out of Texas.”
The Texas law states that doctors who perform abortions risk life in prison, fines of up to $100,000 and could lose their state medical licenses.
“Now we know the courthouse doors are closed to them,” said Molly Duane, a staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represented the group of Texas women. “It seems Texans have nowhere to go but the voting booth, in terms of what comes next.”
Last year, a lower court granted a temporary injunction preventing Texas from enforcing the ban against doctors who performed an abortion using their “good faith judgment” after determining a pregnancy was unsafe due to medical complications. That ruling, however, was immediately blocked after an appeal from the Texas attorney general’s office to the state’s Supreme Court.
The Texas Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit challenging the state’s abortion ban over its medical exceptions. (REUTERS/Callaghan O’Hare)
The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, Amanda Zurawski, had been told that she had a condition that her baby would not survive. She said she was forced to wait until she was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of sepsis before obtaining an abortion. She spent three days in intensive care and was left with a permanently closed fallopian tube from an infection, affecting her ability to have more children.
The court ruled Friday that state law does not require that a woman’s death or serious impairment be “imminent” when she is evaluated by a doctor for a potential abortion.
“Ms. Zurawski’s agonizing wait to be ill ‘enough’ for induction, her development of sepsis, and her permanent physical injury are not the results the law commands,” the court wrote.
Zurawski said the ruling was “heartbreaking.”
“I am outraged on behalf of my fellow plaintiffs who the Court deemed not sick enough,” Zurawski said. “We all deserve bodily autonomy. Every day, people in Texas are being told that they have no options. It’s sickening and wrong.”
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised the ruling after his office defended the law in this case.
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Amanda Zurawski introduces President Joe Biden to speak at an event on the campus of George Mason University in Manassas, Va., Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, to campaign for abortion rights. (AP)
“I will continue to defend the laws enacted by the Legislature and uphold the values of the people of Texas by doing everything in my power to protect mothers and babies,” Paxton posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The lawsuit argued that exemptions under the Texas law, which allow an abortion to save a mother’s life or prevent the impairment of a major bodily function, led to confusion among doctors, who were turning away some pregnant women experiencing health complications because they feared repercussions.
The plaintiffs said the abortion ban, which allows an abortion to save a mother’s life or prevent the impairment of a major bodily function, has made doctors fear of potential liability if the state does not consider a case a medical emergency.
New guidelines proposed by the state medical board earlier this year did not provide much beyond advising doctors to meticulously document their decision-making. The Republican-led state Legislature is not expected to make any changes to the law’s language.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The family of Brianna Aguilera, the Texas A&M student who fell to her death from a high-rise apartment in November, is suing two organizations for allegedly overserving alcohol ahead of the 19-year-old’s death.
Attorney Tony Buzbee on Tuesday announced a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Travis County against the Austin Blacks Rugby Club and the UT Economics and Business Association.
“It is illegal to serve minors any amount of alcohol in the State of Texas. It is reckless and irresponsible to grossly over-serve a group of minors at a University of Texas football tailgate to the point where those minors lose their physical faculties and ability to control themselves,” the lawsuit states.
Aguilera died when she fell from an Austin high-rise apartment following a Texas A&M vs. University of Texas football tailgate at around 1 a.m. Nov. 29, according to police.
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An image provided by the family of the young Texas A&M student, Brianna Aguilera, found dead in Austin over the weekend. (GoFundMe)
A police investigation later determined Aguilera died by suicide despite her family’s claims that she was killed.
Brianna Aguilera was found dead in an apartment hours after attending a tailgate party. (Facebook/Brie Aguilera)
According to the filing, the alleged “egregious over-serving of minors” led to Aguilera’s death. Witnesses described her behavior over several hours as “shifting from upbeat to disoriented and ultimately grossly intoxicated,” the suit says.
Brianna Aguilera holds a sign congratulating her on her acceptance to Texas A&M. (Instagram/brie.aguilera)
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Buzbee said the lawsuit is also intended to support the ongoing investigation into the events of that night by allowing the firm to seek phone and text records, documents and data and to compel witness testimony.
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The lawsuit requests a jury trial.
Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
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Nobody handles oil quite like Texas and a fresh supply of Venezuelan crude could soon be headed to the Lone Star State’s coast.
The first barrels of thick, tar-like crude could arrive as soon as next week at ports across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, where dense clusters of refineries are built and bred to process heavy oil.
The development follows President Donald Trump’s Tuesday evening announcement that Caracas will transfer up to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., worth about $2.8 billion at current market prices.
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Venezuelan children swimming near an oil tanker docked at a pier near the refinery of the state oil company PDVSA. (Jesus Vargas/picture alliance/Getty Images)
“The Gulf Coast concentrates most of our refining capacity, and those refineries were built or revamped over the years to process extra-heavy crude similar to what is produced in Venezuela,” explained Jaime Brito, executive director of refining and oil products at OPIS.
“From a market perspective, additional volumes of extra-heavy crude entering the U.S. refining system would be an extraordinarily positive development,” Brito said. “It would allow refiners to operate more efficiently, something they haven’t been able to do for years and could help keep gasoline and diesel prices at better levels because refiners would have access to cheaper crude and more optimal operations.”
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He added that tankers could arrive within five to six days if they leave Venezuelan waters on Thursday.
Because Gulf Coast refineries supply a large share of the nation’s fuel, shifts in how efficiently they operate can ultimately ripple through to prices paid by U.S. consumers.
Texas oil refineries are poised to benefit from additional crude oil supplies. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The arrival of 15 to 25 oil tankers carrying up to 50 million barrels of crude is only a fraction of what Venezuela could ultimately supply.
With more than 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, it holds the world’s largest oil endowment — eclipsing long-standing energy heavyweights like Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait.
Despite its vast reserves, U.S. sanctions have effectively blocked most Venezuelan crude from reaching the U.S. Gulf Coast, leaving Chevron — operating under a special authorization — as the sole exporter of limited volumes.
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A Chevron Corp. flag flies on the drilling floor of a Nabors Industries Ltd. drill rig in the Permian Basin near Midland, Texas, on March 1, 2018. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
That disruption has been felt most acutely in Texas, which anchors the nation’s refining hub and hosts several of the country’s largest heavy-crude refineries.
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A renewed flow of Venezuelan barrels could also intensify competition in the heavy-crude market, particularly between Venezuela and Canada, Brito said.
“You’re going to have fierce competition between Canada and Venezuela, which benefits American refiners and gives them more flexibility to potentially lower fuel prices,” he said, adding that he was speaking strictly from an oil-market perspective.
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A security guard was fatally shot outside a Houston restaurant Wednesday evening after a confrontation with another man, authorities said.
The shooting happened around 6:15 p.m. outside Connie’s Seafood Market Restaurant, the Houston Police Department said.
Police told reporters that the security guard, who was working for the restaurant, was standing in the parking lot when a fight broke out between him and another man, FOX26 Houston reported.
Police said the security guard was shot at least once. He was rushed to a hospital where he later died.
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A security guard was fatally shot outside a Houston restaurant Wednesday evening after a confrontation with another man, authorities said. (Houston Police Department)
Authorities did not immediately release the name of the victim.
The suspect was last seen running away from the parking lot after the shooting.
The security guard was working for the restaurant at the time of the shooting. (Google Maps)
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No details about the suspect or the circumstances that led to the altercation have been released as of Thursday morning.
Houston police were reviewing surveillance footage as they search for the shooting suspect. (Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle, File)
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Officials said investigators were reviewing surveillance footage and speaking with witnesses to get a description of the suspect.
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