Los Angeles, USA, Dec 7 (EFE).- A pregnant woman in Texas won court approval Thursday to terminate a pregnancy where the fetus was diagnosed with a fatal defect in order to avoid endangering her life and future fertility.

Texas has been the most restrictive state on abortion since the US Supreme Court allowed states to write their own abortion laws when it overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 2022.

The State has overlapping bans that prohibit abortions allowing only a narrow exception to save the health and life of the pregnant woman.

Kate Cox, 31, who is the mother of two small children and is 20 weeks pregnant, appealed to the court on Tuesday arguing that while she and her husband desperately wanted to have the baby, her doctors warned that it was not viable and that continuing with the pregnancy posed a risk to the her health and fertility.

Cox’s fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 18, a genetic abnormality that usually results in miscarriage, stillbirth or death soon after birth, and her doctors have said that if she carries the pregnancy to term a cesarean section would be necessary because she has already had two previous c sections, and that this would carry a higher risk of uterine rupture or hysterectomy.

In an emergency hearing, Travis County Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled, against the state attorney general’s arguments, that Cox’s case fell within the exceptions allowed by Texas’ strict anti-abortion law.

The judge’s order will protect the doctor who performs the abortion and all other parties involved in the procedure.

“The idea that Ms.Cox wants desperately to be a parent, and this law might actually cause her to lose that ability, is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice,” the judge said at the hearing, as quoted by the Texas Tribune.

The Texas attorney general’s office may appeal the decision to a higher court. EFE

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