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Texas Supreme Court rules against women who sought clarification of abortion ban
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition by women who sought clarification of the state’s strict abortion ban.
In the unanimous decision, the court said that the existing medical exceptions in the ban were broad enough to withstand a constitutional challenge. A group of women who were denied abortions under the state filed the lawsuit in March, and they had argued that because the ban’s language regarding medical exceptions is unclear, they were denied lifesaving care while they were pregnant.
Texas bans abortions at about six weeks, with a limited medical exception for a pregnancy that threatens the life of the mother or risks impairing a major bodily function.
The state high court ruled that “the law does not require that a woman’s death be imminent or that she first suffer physical impairment” and said “Texas law permits a physician to address the risk that a life-threatening condition poses before a woman suffers the consequences of that risk.”
The ruling said the plaintiffs are “simply wrong in that legal assessment” that a physician would then say “but the law won’t allow me to provide an abortion in these circumstances.”
Texas doctors face harsh penalties for performing an abortion that does not meet the criteria for a medical exception — fines of at least $100,000 and up to 99 years in prison. Further, anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion is subject to a minimum $10,000 fine that can be levied by anyone under an unusual enforcement mechanism.
The lead plaintiff, Amanda Zurawski, who has since become a surrogate for the Biden campaign, said in a statement on Friday that she was “outraged” by the decision. “Every day, people in Texas are being told that they have no options,” she said.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whosd challenged the lawsuit, said in a statement that he 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.”
SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images
Zurawski v. Texas
The case, Zurawski v. Texas was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of at least 20 women who suffered medical emergencies and two doctors and was the most significant legal challenge to the state’s strict abortion ban.
A Travis County judge ruled that women who experience pregnancy complications are exempt from the state’s abortion ban, which resulted in an injunction on the law. Paxton’s office appealed the ruling to the all-Republican state Supreme Court, which put the injunction on hold.
On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s ruling, saying it “departed from the law as written without constitutional justification.” The decision was unanimous, but Justice Brett Busby issued a concurring opinion that left the door open to a broader challenge to the law.
The lawsuit was not filed to overturn Texas’ law, but instead sought clarification on what qualifies as a medical exemption. It was believed to be the first challenge of an abortion ban since the 2022 Dobbs decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case that established the federal right to an abortion.
The court said Zurawski was incorrectly denied an abortion when her water broke when she was 17 weeks pregnant and the fetus still had a heartbeat. Zurawski was sent home, but doctors performed the abortion days later, after she went into septic shock. The infection caused one of her fallopian tubes to close, making it harder for her to conceive.
“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 ruling said. Further, the ruling said that “the law does not require a woman to surrender her life or to first suffer serious bodily injury before an abortion may be performed.”
The ruling also noted that in the last legislative session, the Texas Legislature did amend the law to “plainly indicate that a physician who performs an abortion in response to such a diagnosis” as Zurawski suffered “is not liable.”
Though the Legislature amended the law and gave a legal defense to doctors, abortion rights advocats say it didn’t sufficiently clarify the law.
Last year, Zurawski gave harrowing testimony with two other women who were denied abortions in Texas, along with a doctor and two medical experts.
Other Texas abortion cases
In November 2023, Kate Cox, filed an emergency lawsuit seeking an injunction to the law when she found out that her pregnancy was “unlikely to end with a healthy baby,” and due to two prior cesarean sections, continuing the pregnancy put her at risk of severe complications that threatened “her life and future fertility.”
An Austin judge ruled Cox could terminate her pregnancy, but that ruling was stayed after Paxton appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court. Cox, who was 20 weeks pregnant at the time of the suit, ultimately left the state to have an abortion.
After a petition from Austin-area lobbyists, the Texas Medical Board is considering proposed guidelines on how it investigates complaints about prohibited abortions. The agency is currently considering public comment ahead of its planned June meeting, where the issue could be decided.
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Rep. Mike Turner says all “candidates need to deescalate” after Trump assassination attempts
Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, responded Sunday to Eric Trump’s implication that his father’s Democratic opponents were responsible for the attempts on former President Trump’s life, saying the innuendo was “of course” inaccurate but political candidates on both sides of the aisle “need to deescalate” their rhetoric.
“No, of course not,” Turner said in his latest appearance on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” after being asked whether he believes there was truth to claims made by the former president, his son Eric, and his vice presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance, at a rally where each either implied or suggested Democrats tried to kill him.
Trump returned Saturday to Butler, Pennsylvania, to speak to supporters gathered at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds, the site of the July 13 assassination attempt against him. A gunman facing Trump on the podium at that rally opened fire into the crowd, grazing Trump’s ear, killing one attendee and injuring two others, according to authorities. The gunman was killed by a Secret Service sniper, officials said.
Another apparent assassination attempt happened in September when a suspect pointed a gun in Trump’s direction on the Florida course where he was playing golf. The FBI has opened probes into both incidents.
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Trump, his son and Vance all acknowledged the assassination attempt in Butler at Saturday’s campaign event.
“Over the past eight years, those who want to stop us from achieving this future have slandered me impeached me indicted me tried to throw me off the ballot and, who knows, maybe even tried to kill me,” said the former president, while Eric Trump claimed his father’s political opponents “tried to kill him, and it’s because the Democratic party, they can’t do anything right.”
Vance, in his remarks, addressed Trump’s Democratic challenger in the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, and suggested that the Republican nominee “took a bullet for democracy.”
Brennan asked Turner: “You don’t mean to imply here anything that would suggest Eric Trump’s allegations that Democrats are trying to kill him?”
“No, of course not,” Turner responded. “But I do think that Vice President Harris needs to actively state and acknowledge that her administration is saying a foreign power, which would be an act of war, is actively trying to kill her opponent.”
The attempts on Trump’s life came after a citizen of Pakistan with ties to Iran was arrested and charged with allegedly planning a murder-for-hire scheme targeting Trump, among others. Although the timing of the charges coincided with the first attempt, there was no indication that the two incidents were related.
Turner criticized Harris for what he viewed as a failure to openly condemn the alleged plot.
“I think there’s certainly a role for her to play and for the president to play in this, in both identifying that there are threats against Donald Trump that need to be acknowledged and responded to, to deter,” he said. “I think all the candidates need to de-escalate, certainly in their language.”
But the congressman did acknowledge that a Biden-Harris Justice Department official, Matthew Olsen, the head of the national security division, said the U.S. government has been “intensely tracking Iranian lethal plotting efforts targeting former and current U.S. government officials — and that includes the former president.”
“I would say that we are very concerned — gravely concerned — about Iranian plotting,” Olsen told CBS News in a recent interview.
Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified into a Category 1 storm on Sunday, and it has set its path on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Forecasters predict Milton will make landfall around the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday, bringing with it upwards of 120 mph winds and drenching an area still reeling from Hurricane Helene.
As of 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Milton was centered about 290 miles west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 815 miles west-southwest of Tampa. It had maximum sustained winds of nearly 80 mph and was inching north-northeast at 6 mph.
Path of Hurricane Milton
A map from the National Hurricane Center shows Milton continuing to strengthen into a major hurricane as it approaches Florida’s western coast.
“Milton is forecast to rapidly intensify during the next couple of days and become a major hurricane on Monday,” forecasters said.
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
The storm is expected to remain north of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, with heavy rainfall expected as Milton makes its way northeast toward Florida. Tropical storm watches are currently in effect from Celestun to Cancún, Mexico.
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
The hurricane center said hurricane and storm surge watches could be issued for parts of Florida later Sunday.
Florida officials prepare for more impact
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen just where Milton will strike, it’s clear that Florida is going to be hit hard. “I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point,” he said.
“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” the governor said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”
NOAA via AP
DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration Sunday to 51 counties and said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruptions, making sure they have a week’s worth of food and water and are ready to hit the road.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, meanwhile, coordinated with the governor and briefed President Biden Sunday on how it has staged lifesaving resources.
“I highly encourage you to evacuate” if you’re in an evacuation zone, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “We are preparing … for the largest evacuation that we have seen, most likely since 2017, Hurricane Irma. “
As many as 4,000 National Guard troops are helping state crews to remove debris, DeSantis said.
“All available state assets … are being marshaled to help remove debris,” DeSantis said. “We’re going 24-7 … it’s all hands on deck.”
An American climber was rescued after she and another alpinist from the U.K. were stranded for two days at more than 20,000 feet in the Himalayan mountains.
Michelle Dvorak, 31, and Fay Manners, 37, went missing on Thursday after their equipment and food tumbled down a ravine while trekking up India’s Chaukhamba mountain, CBS News partner BBC reported.
The pair sent an emergency message but search and rescue teams were unable to find them.
INDIAN AIR FORCE/Handout via REUTERS
Manners told the BBC they were “terrified” as they tried to make part of the descent down the treacherous mountains without supplies.
“I watched the bag tumble down the mountain and I immediately knew the consequence of what was to come,” she said. “We had none of our safety equipment left. No tent. No stove to melt snow for water. No warm clothes for the evening.”
The terrifying ordeal intensified when it started to snow. They took cover on a ledge while waiting for rescuers.
“I felt hypothermic, constantly shaking and with the lack of food my body was running out of energy to keep warm,” Manners said.
The rescue was made difficult because of the conditions, including bad weather, fog and high altitude.
“The helicopter flew passed again, couldn’t see us. We were destroyed,” Manners told the BBC.
INDIAN AIR FORCE/Handout via REUTERS
On the second day, the pair began to cautiously abseil down the mountain. They spotted a team of French climbers coming toward them. Manners said they shared their equipment and food and contacted the helicopter company with an exact location.
“I cried with relief knowing we might survive,” she said.
The Indian Air Force said in a post on the X social media platform that their helicopter airlifted the climbers from 17,400 feet after “battling two days of bad weather.”
Chaukhamba is a mountain massif in the Garhwal Himalaya in northern India.
