Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author:

Texas Supreme Court rejects challenge to state abortion ban’s medical exceptions

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. MAN FINED FOR STANDING SILENTLY OUTSIDE UK ABORTION CLINIC, OFFICERS COULDN’T TELL HIM HIS CRIME 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 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. LOUISIANA CLASSIFIES ABORTION DRUGS AS CONTROLLED, DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES AFTER GOV. LANDRY GREENLIGHTS PROPOSAL “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.

Tales from The Trail: Trump ‘unleashed’ with criminal trial over

Tales from The Trail: Trump ‘unleashed’ with criminal trial over

Donald Trump is wasting no time in getting back on the campaign trail now that the verdict is in and his historic criminal trial in New York City is over. The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee headlined a campaign fundraiser just a couple of hours after being convicted. On Saturday he’ll attend a UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) match in Newark, New Jersey, Fox News confirmed. And on Sunday he’ll sit for a “Fox and Friends” interview. “We’ll be fighting hard,” Trump told Fox News’ Brooke Singman in an interview soon after he was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in his case, the first in which a former or current president stood trial. Trump emphasized that he was excited to get back on the campaign trail.  2024 SHOWDOWN: TRUMP CASHES IN ON THE CONVICTION IN HIS CRIMINAL TRIAL On Friday, as he addressed reporters from the atrium of his Trump Tower in New York City, where he launched his first White House bid nine years ago, the former president vowed that “we’re going to fight.”. For six weeks, Trump had been confined to the courtroom in Lower Manhattan, which prevented him from campaigning across the country other than on weekends and Wednesdays, when there was no trial. But Trump’s campaign touted that even during the duration of the trial, the candidate was able to generate “billions of dollars” in media coverage as well as host rallies and fundraisers. HOW TRUMP GUILTY VERDICTS MAY IMPACT THE 2024 REMATCH WITH BIDEN The former president’s tenure in court also didn’t seem to put a dent in the slight edge he enjoys in the polls over President Biden in the key battleground states that will likely decide the outcome of their rematch. And the former president’s top pollsters put out a memo on the eve of the verdict arguing that a conviction would not have any electoral consequences. “We are already back to the mission,” the Trump campaign told Fox News Digital on Thursday evening. “President Trump won’t let this sham stop the movement of this campaign to save the nation.” Longtime Republican strategist David Carney, a veteran of multiple GOP presidential campaigns who is now steering a pro-Trump super PAC, told Fox News that “the show trial is over and Trump is unleashed to campaign at will again. With the miscarriage of justice out in the open, he will have the wind to his back.” Trump enjoyed an initial burst of fundraising courtesy of his guilty verdicts. The former president’s campaign announced on Friday morning that it had hauled in $34.8 million in fundraising from 6pm ET to midnight on Thursday, immediately after the verdict went viral. On Friday evening, the campaign updated their fundraising total – nearly $53 million over 24 hours. WHAT TRUMP TOLD FOX NEWS DIGITAL FOLLOWING THE VERDICT The campaign highlighted in a release that they raked in “a record shattering small dollar fundraising haul and said it was “nearly double the biggest day ever recorded for the Trump campaign on the WinRed platform.” They emphasized that the guilty verdicts “have awakened the MAGA movement like never before.” Trump will continue his fundraising blitz with a swing at the end of next week in California. The former president heads to the blue bastion of San Francisco on June 6 for a fundraising dinner hosted by tech investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, two of the heaviest hitters in Silicon Valley and co-hosts of the hot “All-In” podcast. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a Trump ally and potential 2024 running mate who spent time a few years back in San Francisco working for hedge funds in the tech sector, was instrumental in putting the top dollar fundraising together. Trump heads south to Beverly Hills for a June 7 fundraiser and a June 8 finance event in Newport Beach in Orange County. The trip doesn’t mean the Trump campaign thinks overwhelmingly blue California may be in play.  Instead, Trump’s swing and two fundraisers in the Bay Area on June 5 headlined by Vice President Kamala Harris are the latest proof that the Golden State remains a crucial ATM for campaign cash. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Hunter Biden is prepping for his federal gun trial, but faces other legal challenges

Hunter Biden is prepping for his federal gun trial, but faces other legal challenges

Hunter Biden is preparing for his first criminal trial, which is set to start Monday, but that federal gun case stemming from Special Counsel David Weiss’ yearslong investigation is just one of several legal challenges the first son faces.  Biden pleaded not guilty to federal gun charges in U.S. District Court for Delaware after Weiss charged him with making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a licensed firearm dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.  JUDGE BARS PROSECUTORS FROM USING SOME SALACIOUS EVIDENCE IN HUNTER BIDEN’S GUN TRIAL With all counts combined, the total maximum prison time for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.  That trial is set to begin Monday with jury selection.  But Biden is also facing other federal charges.  Weiss charged the first son in a California federal court on alleged federal tax crimes.  Biden pleaded not guilty to those charges — specifically, three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. Weiss alleged a “four-year scheme” when the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.  That criminal trial was scheduled for June 20, but Biden’s attorneys requested to delay the trial.  Judge Mark Scarsi sided with Biden’s attorneys, and moved that tax trial to Sept. 5, when jury selection will begin.  On top of the already-filed charges, Biden is also dealing with allegations of making false statements to Congress.  House Republicans obtained information they say proves “indisputably” that the first son lied under oath multiple times during his congressional deposition earlier this year.   The House Ways and Means Committee, last month, said Biden lied at least three times during his deposition.  HUNTER BIDEN TAX TRIAL POSTPONED TO SEPTEMBER After publication, Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell denied in a statement that any of the three examples were lies.  “Here they go again, grasping at straws and twisting Hunter’s testimony to try to revive an impeachment inquiry that was a complete and utter failure,” Lowell said.  But Committee Chairman Jason Smith warned that “lying during sworn testimony is a felony offense that the Department of Justice has prosecuted numerous individuals for in recent years, and the American people expect the same accountability for the son of the President of the United States.”  HOUSE GOP CLAIMS HUNTER BIDEN LIED UNDER OATH MULTIPLE TIMES DURING CONGRESSIONAL DEPOSITION House Republicans claim Biden mischaracterized his role working for his firm, Rosemont Seneca, and actually controlled bank accounts he claimed in his deposition he did not.  They also said Biden claimed he did not help a foreign national obtain a visa, but the committee says emails between himself and his former associate Devon Archer show that the first son helped a man named Miguel Aleman with visa documents. The committee also pointed to Biden’s claim that he sent a text to the wrong “Zhao,” due to being under the influence, but WhatsApp records show Biden only spoke with one Zhao — Henry Zhao of Chinese energy firm CEFC.  Biden in the WhatsApp message allegedly told a Chinese business associate from Chinese energy company CEFC that he and his father would ensure “you will regret not following my direction.” Biden requested the $10 million wire for his joint-venture with CEFC called SinoHawk Holdings.  “I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” Biden told Henry Zhao, the director of Chinese asset management firm Harvest Fund Management. “And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.” Zhao responded, in part, “CEFC is willing to cooperate with the family.” House Republicans have not yet taken steps to hold the first son accountable for those alleged lies, or taken any formal steps to accuse him of making false statements to Congress.  Biden was deposed before the House Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means Committee earlier this year. Congressional Republicans have been investigating Biden’s overseas business dealings and whether his father, President Biden, personally benefited from those arrangements.