“Paxton also said that the judge was “not medically qualified to make this determination.” And he doesn’t care that the judge was relying on the MEDICAL EXPERTS who gave testimony. they need a judge who is also an ACOG member with 40 years of experience.
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Yeah, but I think the fear is that it ends up not only with the individuals in jail, but with an entire institution that serves a community shut down… Because of course the GOP doesn’t care if an entire community loses their hospitals, so long as they get control over women.
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See also: Idaho, which is running every OB-GYN out of the state, shuttering hospitals, banning research on how much maternal death there is, and passing laws solely for the sake of how cruel and horrible they can make things for women.
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Be careful what you wish for. Usually, when a notably despicable politician leaves Texas, it’s because he got sent to Washington D.C.
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I’m guessing if the judge had ruled the opposite, Paxton would have argued that she was qualified to make that decision. He’s not wrong, though. She isn’t medically qualified. Neither is he. You know who is? The doctors involved, and they all said this is medically necessary. So he can die mad, as far as I’m concerned.
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For starters. The list is long.
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And if a doctor or hospital is charged, due to the medical ethical issues involved, the “jury of their peers” empaneled to hear the case should include at least several medical professionals (doctors, nurses, or other health care professionals.) In that case, I think a conviction is highly unlikely.
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the woman, Kate Cox, had not shown she qualified for the medical exception to the state’s abortion ban.
And how, exactly, does she do that Ken, when sundry medical experts having testified under oath that the pregnancy is not viable, is apparently not enough?
Maybe when the abortion cops come looking there needs to be a ‘spartacus’ moment and every single employee at the hospital says they did it. (Yeah, I can dream.)
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If he is successful in getting this blocked, then I would hope that her attorneys would then turn this back around on him. If she or the baby dies, charge him with voluntary manslaughter. Or if she is found to have become infertile, charge him with having performed an illegal abortion ( she can’t have any more children, and that is against her wish!).
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I don’t know how much power a judge has, after verdict, to compel him to defend his actions. I am thinking the following may still be in play (YMMV):
- Compel the Attorney General to show up for an Order to Show Cause hearing, with an accompanying bench warrant if he no shows
- Disobeying (her) court order, and related contempt of court rulings
- Obstruction of Justice by inducing appeal delays, beyond his filings
- Expedited discovery upon the merits for his appeal with a panel of medically qualified experts
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Because “not viable” is not part of the equation. The pregnant person must be facing an imminent threat to life or function of a major organ system. As has been said upthread, this can really only be proven in retrospect. If they die, then the abortion would have been allowed (oops, but too late now) whereas, if they live, “how can you prove with absolute certainty that the standard was met? there was no injury sustained! Prosecute!” It was intentionally written in an obtuse fashion that makes it pretty damn near impossible to “prove” that the pregnant person is actually facing a dire threat until the whole thing is over.
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he’s trying to bend the law so it breaks in his favor. and like any fascist, they hope to accumulate enough power that they’ll never have to give it back
plus, i suspect he likes being cruel. it proves he has power, and that proof is what validates his ego
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This is the only part I disagree with. If the woman is rich, or politically-connected, or the spouse of/related to a Texas lawmaker, or is a demonstrated fire-breathing Christofascist bigot of the correct sort (*ahemwhite*), then of course an exception can be found!
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Corrupt indeed
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