AUSTIN, Texas — Less than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned and Texas' trigger law went into effect, five women and two doctors decided to fight back.
The group has filed a lawsuit against the state's restrictive abortion ban, saying it's denying pregnant women access to a potentially lifesaving procedure.
"This the first lawsuit of its kind," President of Center for Reproductive Rights Nancy Northup said during a press conference.
"We filed this lawsuit so that patients will not be hindered, delayed or denied necessary care — including abortion care."
Texas law bans all abortions — and while it claims to allow exemptions if the mother's life is at risk, the five women on this lawsuit said their life-threatening complications were not enough to qualify.
"Politicians in Texas are prohibiting healthcare they don't understand," mother-to-be Lauren Miller said.
"They could do something, but they're not and it's killing us."
Miller was 12-weeks-pregnant with her twins when she learned one was unlikely to survive due to a rare genetic condition called Trisomy 18.
"After speaking with multiple doctors and genetic counselors, we kept arriving at the same point," Miller said.
"Baby B will die, it's just a matter of how soon — and every day that Baby B continued to develop, he put his twin and myself at greater risk."
Miller was denied access to an abortion and was referred out of state by her doctor.
"I just wanted to curl up and cry and mourn, but I couldn't because we had to scramble to make plans to get out of state for an abortion — to give myself and Baby A a chance at surviving this pregnancy," Miller said.
Stories like this are not uncommon.
The group is seeking clarification to the state's abortion laws and more direction for doctors unclear how to treat women having pregnancy complications.
"Essentially what we are asking for is for a court to interpret the exception using medical terminology," Lead Attorney Molly Duane said.
"The law written does not use medical terminology, which is why physicians are left floundering to figure out what it is to do during these emergency situations."
They say if changes aren't made, more women will be put at risk — and could potentially even lose their lives.
