United States: The United States administration has supported the recently filed lawsuit against Texas’s abortion ban, led by five women who were denied reproductive healthcare in the state.

The country’s Vice President Ms. Kamala Harris issued a statement calling the women’s stories “devastating”.

“As the President and I have long made clear, taking away the right of women to make their own reproductive health care decisions endangers women’s health, with potentially life-threatening consequences,” Ms. Harris remarked.

The recently filed lawsuit calls for an injunction against Texas’s abortion ban due to its “uncertainty” in the law’s language. Currently, under Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), Texas has a near-total ban on abortion, which took effect in September 2021. However, the law includes an exception for medical emergencies.

The new lawsuit stated that the exception is poorly defined, which has “caused and threatens to cause irreparable injury” to pregnant individuals who are unable to receive emergency life-saving treatment.

“With the threat of losing their medical licences, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, and up to 99 years in prison looming over their heads, it is no surprise that doctors and hospitals are turning patients away, even patients in medical emergencies,” the lawsuit stated.

The plaintiffs have called on the District Court in Travis County, Texas, to issue guidance “clarifying the scope” of the exceptions to the state’s abortion laws.

Like Texas, about 13 US states have a near-total ban on abortion.  Many of these states are ruled by Republicans, including Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

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