President of Texas Medical Board says it should be up to lawmakers to give clarity to abortion law
After a North Texas woman sued to get an abortion, the Texas Supreme Court asked the Texas Medical Board to provide more clarity.
But the Board decided it's not in the business of interpreting the law.
This was our first time hearing from the head of the Texas Medical Board since the Supreme Court opinion.
He said, if the Supreme Court wants more clarity, it should be on lawmakers to clear up the text of the law.
Kate Cox, a North Texas woman, made national headlines when she asked a state district court for permission to get an abortion.
Doctors said her fetus had multiple complications, and at 20 weeks, she had already made repeated trips to the emergency room.
Doctors told Cox her fetus was unlikely to survive, and that giving birth could prevent her from having more children.
"There was a lot of confusion and a desire for some clarity around things that inherently can't be clearer because there are judgment calls," Texas Medical Board President Dr. Sherif Zaafran said.
Judgment is at the center of this case.
The Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion saying the lower court overstepped its authority when it granted Cox permission for an abortion.
Texas Supreme Court pauses lower court’s order allowing pregnant woman to have an abortion
The Texas Supreme Court put on hold a judge’s ruling that approved an abortion for a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis, throwing into limbo an unprecedented challenge to one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S.
The opinion said it is for doctors, not the courts, to decide, and doctors do not need to wait until a patient is "within an inch of death or ... bodily impairment ... " to perform an abortion.
However, the plaintiffs in a separate case said that doesn't match reality, and that doctors are afraid of repercussions because the law is too vague.
The Supreme Court suggested the Texas Medical Board provide clarity.
"I can't comment specifically as to what we'll do because those court decisions are still pending out there. But in general, regardless of whatever guidance we give, I don't think that's going to give the answers that folks want out there, which is clarity as to what a specific hypothetical situation might entail. We just inherently can't do that," Dr. Zaafran explained.
Zaafran told FOX 4 his board must follow the text of the law. He said the legislature should be the ones to provide more clarity with the restrictive abortion law.
"We can't interpret the law. That's the job of the judiciary. But at the end of the day, if there is lack of clarity in the law, or if there needs to be more specifics in the law, that needs to come from the legislature," Dr. Zaafran said. "That is specifically around ectopic pregnancies. That was very specifically laid out there. So there's no lack of clarity when it comes to specifically that issue. If that was not in the law, we as a medical board could not say, well, that is one exception."
Texas woman who sought court permission for abortion leaves state for the procedure, attorneys say
A judge gave Kate Cox, a mother of two from the Dallas area, permission last week but that decision was put on hold by the state’s all-Republican high court.
There has not been an update on if Cox had a successful procedure, and there hasn’t been a comment from her representation about their thoughts on the Supreme Court opinion.