For the first time since Roe vs. Wade was reversed, Texas women were not getting abortions

tested in court for carrying babies they knew would not survive and for continued pregnancies that put their health at increasing risk.

theirs

Detailed bills in a packed Austin courtroom were

often emotionally, and at some point

Wednesday,

the judge called for a pause after a woman whose child had died

within hours of birth became ill and overwhelmed on the witness stand. I survived sepsis, and I don’t think today was much less traumatic than that, said Amanda Zurawksi, one of more than a dozen Texas women suing the state. The lawsuit is one of several legal battles igniting across the country over access to abortion, more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. However, what sets the Texas case apart is that the

women are believed to be the first in the US

to sue and testify about a state being denied abortion after newly enacted bans.

Their challenge is not to repeal Texas’s ban, but to bring more clarity to when exceptions are allowed under the law, which is one of the strictest in the US.

It’s not clear how soon District Judge Jessica Mangrum will rule. The state is trying to dismiss the lawsuit, and a lawyer from the Texas Attorney General’s office called doctors’ fears of being sued unfounded. Under Texas law, doctors who perform abortions face life imprisonment and fines of up to $100,000. Opponents say this has left some women with caregivers who won’t even talk about terminating a pregnancy. Amy Pletscher, a state attorney, said the lawsuit was brought by women and doctors who “just don’t like Texas restrictions on abortion.” The purpose of this court is not to legislate, she said. The lawsuit was filed in March, and since then several women have spoken at length to reporters and lawmakers about the catastrophic outcome of their pregnancies. Molly Duane, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights who helped bring the lawsuit, said they believe Wednesday marked the first time in decades that women who were denied abortions tested themselves in court over a state’s abortion ban.

Samantha Casiano tested that she was halfway through her pregnancy when she discovered during an appointment that her fetus had a rare diagnosis of anencephaly.

in which

much of the skull and brain are missing. Doctors told her they couldn’t give her an abortion in Texas, and when a social worker was called into the room, Casiano was given information about the funeral home.

I felt like I was being abandoned,” said Casiano. I had this funeral paper and this should just be a scan day.

While the Texas ban barely allows for exceptions when a patient’s life is in danger, opponents say the law is so vaguely worded that doctors remain afraid to perform abortions even under those circumstances.

Sixteen states, including Texas, don’t allow abortions when a fatal fetal abnormality is discovered, while six don’t allow exceptions for women’s health, according to an analysis by KFF, a health research organization.

The lawsuit in Texas comes as abortion restrictions elsewhere in the US continue to face challenges. On Monday, an Iowa judge temporarily blocked the state’s new ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, days after Republican Kim Reynolds signed the measure into law.

According to a poll released in late June by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, the majority of American adults, including those living in states with the strictest limits on abortion, want it to be legal at least during the early stages of pregnancy.