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Texas Supreme Court hears arguments to clarify abortion ban
Austin, Texas — A lawyer representing 20 women and two doctors argued before the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday that women have been denied lifesaving care under the state’s strict abortion law as they seek to clarify what qualifies as a medical exception.
“We are just seeking clarification on what the law aims to do,” said Molly Duane, a lawyer for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which brought the lawsuit.
Five women who were denied abortions under the state filed the lawsuit in March, and they were later joined by 17 other plaintiffs, including two doctors. The lawsuit, which was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights, is believed to be the first to be brought by women who were denied abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
Unlike other legal challenges to abortion laws, this case does not seek to overturn Texas’ ban but rather to clarify what qualifies as a medical exemption. But Supreme Court Justice Brett Busby said the job of the court is to “decide cases,” and not to “elaborate and expand laws in order to make them easier to understand or enforce.”
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Beth Klusmann, a lawyer for the state, argued Tuesday that the women did not have the standing to sue, suggesting that the women should have instead sued their doctors for medical malpractice.
Duane argued on Tuesday that because the law is unclear, the women were denied lifesaving care, and that the state’s interpretation means that “women would need to have blood or amniotic fluid dripping down their leg before they can come to court.”
Earlier this year, a judge in Austin ruled that women who experience pregnancy complications are exempt from the state’s abortion ban. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed the ruling, bringing the legal challenge to the state Supreme Court.
In August, Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum placed an injunction on the law, ruling that the plaintiffs faced “an imminent threat of irreparable harm under Texas’s abortion bans. This injunction is necessary to preserve Plaintiffs’ legal right to obtain or provide abortion care in Texas in connection with emergent medical conditions under the medical exception and the Texas Constitution.”
The injunction was put on hold when Paxton appealed.
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Barry Enderwick is eating his way through history, one sandwich at a time. Every day from his home in San Jose, California, Enderwick posts a cooking video from a recipe that time forgot. From the 1905 British book “Salads, Sandwiches and Savouries,” Enderwick prepared the New York Sandwich.
The recipe called for 24 oysters, minced and mixed with mayonnaise, seasoned with lemon juice and pepper, and spread over buttered day-old French bread.
Rescuing recipes from the dustbin of history doesn’t always lead to culinary success. Sampling his New York Sandwich, Enderwick decried it as “a textural wasteland. No, thank you.” Into the trash bin it went!
But Enderwick’s efforts have yielded his own cookbook, a collection of some of the strangest – and sometimes unexpectedly delicious – historical recipes you’ve never heard of.
Harvard Common Press
He even has a traveling stage show: “Sandwiches of History Live.”
From the condiments to the sliced bread, this former Netflix executive has become something of a sandwich celebrity. “You can put just about anything in-between two slices of bread,” he said. “And it’s portable! In general, a sandwich is pretty easy fare. And so, they just have universal appeal.”
Though the sandwich gets its name famously from the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, the earliest sandwich Enderwick has eaten dates from 200 B.C.E. China, a seared beef sandwich called Rou Jia Mo.
He declared it delicious. “Between the onions, and all those spices and the soy sauce … oh my God! Oh man, this is so good!”
While Elvis was famous for his peanut butter and banana concoction, Enderwick says there’s another celebrity who should be more famous for his sandwich: Gene Kelly, who he says had “the greatest man sandwich in the world, which was basically mashed potatoes on bread. And it was delicious.”
Whether it’s a peanut and sardine sandwich (from “Blondie’s Cook Book” from 1947), or the parmesian radish sandwich (from 1909’s “The Up-To-Date Sandwich Book”), Enderwick tries to get a taste of who we were – good or gross – one recipe at a time.
RECIPE: A sophisticated club sandwich
Blogger Barry Enderwick, of Sandwiches of History, offers “Sunday Morning” viewers a 1958 recipe for a club sandwich that, he says, shouldn’t work, but actually does, really well!
MORE: “Sunday Morning” 2024 “Food Issue” recipe index
Delicious menu suggestions from top chefs, cookbook authors, food writers, restaurateurs, and the editors of Food & Wine magazine.
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Story produced by Anthony Laudato. Editor: Chad Cardin.