Fox News has barely covered the story of Kate Cox, a Texas woman who sought to terminate her pregnancy due to the fetus’s fatal diagnosis but had her court-ordered emergency abortion halted after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton petitioned the Texas Supreme Court. Instead, one Fox show opted to cover a supposed “attack” on “tradwives,” with host Jesse Watters dedicating a segment of his coveted 8 p.m. slot to the topic.
The Texas Supreme Court overturned a ruling granting Cox an exception to the state’s draconian abortion ban
On December 5, Cox filed a lawsuit in Texas for an emergency court-ordered abortion “to protect her health, life, and future fertility.” Cox, who was 20 weeks pregnant at the time the suit was filed, sought the abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 18 and “had no chance of survival.” In addition, the lawsuit detailed how Cox had visited three different emergency rooms in the past month with “severe cramping and unidentifiable fluid leaks” and was “at high risk for many serious medical conditions that pose risks to her future fertility and can become suddenly and unexpectedly life-threatening” if she did not undergo an abortion. The suit also included a recommendation from Cox’s OB-GYN, who stated they have a “good faith” belief that Cox should be exempted from the ban.
Texas’ current abortion ban restricts all abortions after six weeks, a period during which pregnancy would mostly not even be able to be detected, effectively banning all abortions. The ban makes narrow exceptions for “medical emergency” cases where the pregnancy “places the woman in danger of death or a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless an abortion is performed."