Kate Cox, Texas Woman at Center of Abortion Case, Leaves State to Terminate Pregnancy Legally 

Kate Cox, the 31-year-old Texas woman at the center of an unprecedented challenge to the state’s restrictive abortion ban has left the state to terminate her pregnancy legally.

Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, the group representing the woman, confirmed the news and said Cox’s “health is on the line.” 

"She’s been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn’t wait any longer.”

It is not clear where Cox went to terminate the pregnancy. 

The news came as Cox was waiting on a ruling from the Texas Supreme Court over whether she could legally obtain an abortion under the state’s new narrow exceptions to the ban. A judge gave her permission last week but it was later put on hold by the state’s fully Republican high court.

Cox was believed to be the first woman in the country to request permission from a court on the matter since the Supreme Court overturned protections for the medical practice last year in a historic ruling. 

According to Cox’s suit, doctors told her her baby was at an increased risk for a condition known as trisomy 18, which has a very high likelihood of miscarriage or stillbirth and low survival rates.

Doctors also told Cox that inducing labor or carrying the baby to full term could jeopardize her chances of carrying another child in the future.