米テキサス州最高裁、先天性疾患胎児の中絶認める地裁判断覆す

【ヒューストンＡＦＰ＝時事】米テキサス州で、妊娠中の胎児に先天性疾患が見つかったとする女性が、人工妊娠中絶の許可を求めて同州を相手取って起こした訴訟で、州の最高裁判所は１１日、緊急中絶を認めるとした地方裁判所の判断を覆した。原告の代理人弁護士によると、女性は最高裁判断が出る数時間前に、中絶処置を受けるため同州を離れたという。（写真は、人工妊娠中絶を求めて米テキサス州を提訴したケイト・コックスさん。本人提供）
　ダラス・フォートワース都市圏在住の２児の母、ケイト・コックスさん（３１）は妊娠２０週目を過ぎている。胎児は染色体異常による先天性疾患「フルエドワーズ症候群」で、出産前に死亡する確率が高く、生まれても数日しか生きられないとされる。
　医師らは、人工中絶処置を行わなければ、子宮摘出や命にかかわる危険があると判断。コックスさんは先週、中絶の許可を求めてテキサス州を提訴し、トラビス州地裁は中絶を認める判断を下していた。
　しかし、これを受けてテキサス州のケン・パクストン司法長官が、直ちに州最高裁に上訴するとともに、コックスさんの中絶処置を行った医師を訴追すると警告していた。
　コックスさんと夫、医師の代理として訴状を提出した「性と生殖に関する権利センター」のナンシー・ノーサップ代表は、コックスさんが他州に移ったことについて、「母体の健康が危険にさらされている。緊急治療室への出入りを繰り返してきた原告は、これ以上待てなかった。これが、裁判官や政治家が妊婦に関する判断を下してはならない理由だ。医師ではないのだ」と非難した。
　一方、テキサス州最高裁の判事らは、本件は司法が介入すべき問題ではないとの所感を示し、今回の判断は、本件について医師が「合理的な医療的判断」に基づいて人命を救うために必要と判断した場合には中絶処置を禁じるものではなく、もし原告が（同州における中絶禁止の）例外に当たるのならば、「裁判所命令は必要ない」と述べた。
　同権利センターの専属弁護士、モリー・デュアン氏は「もしテキサス州でコックスさんが中絶処置を受けられないなら、誰が受けられるのか。本件は、例外が機能せず、中絶禁止法がある州での妊娠は危険だということを証明している」と指摘した。
　ノーサップ氏も、「コックスさんには州外に行く手立てがあったが、大半の人にはなく、こうした状況は死刑宣告になりかねない」と非難した。
　米最高裁は２０２２年６月、人工妊娠中絶を憲法上の権利と認めた判決を覆す判断を下した。
　テキサス州は、レイプや近親姦（かん）による妊娠でも中絶を認めない厳格な中絶禁止法を施行。また中絶手術を受けた本人だけでなく、中絶に協力した人を市民が告発できる州法がある。中絶手術を行った医師に対しては、９９年以下の禁錮と１０万ドル（約１５００万円）以下の罰金が科された上、医師免許が剥奪される可能性がある。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/13-15:57）

The Texas Supreme Court on Monday overruled an emergency order allowing a woman to terminate her risky pregnancy, in a decision issued hours after her lawyers said she had left the state to get an abortion.
Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two from Dallas, is more than 20 weeks pregnant with a fetus with a rare genetic defect, full trisomy 18, which means it will likely die before birth or at most live a few days.
Doctors say failure to terminate the pregnancy could cause a rupture to Cox's uterus, threatening her future fertility and her life. She sued Texas last week and initially won the right to an abortion by a judge in Travis County.
But the state's Attorney General Ken Paxton quickly appealed to the Texas Supreme Court. Paxton also threatened to prosecute any doctor carrying out the abortion.
This past week of legal limbo has been hellish for Kate, said Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the case on behalf of Cox, her husband and physician.
Her health is on the line. She's been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn't wait any longer. This is why judges and politicians should not be making healthcare decisions for pregnant people -- they are not doctors.
After Cox had left Texas, the Texas Supreme Court issued an order siding with the government and reversing the lower court's decision.
- Near total ban -
The US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022.
A Texas state trigger ban went into immediate effect, prohibiting abortions even in cases of rape or incest. Texas also has a law that allows private citizens to sue anyone who performs or aids an abortion.
Texas physicians found guilty of providing abortions face up to 99 years in prison, fines of up to $100,000 and the revocation of their medical license.
While the state does allow abortions in cases where the mother's life is in danger, physicians have said that in practice the wording is vague and unclear, leaving them open to legal consequences for exercising their medical judgment.
Despite the Texas Supreme Court's ruling, the judges indicated they did not feel it was a matter the judiciary should wade into.
Our ruling today does not block a life-saving abortion in this very case if a physician determines that one is needed under the appropriate legal standard, using reasonable medical judgment, they said. If Ms. Cox's circumstances are, or have become, those that satisfy the statutory exception, no court order is needed.
The Texas Medical Board, however, can do more to provide guidance in response to any confusion that currently prevails, the order said.
But Molly Duane, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the decision did little to help women in Cox's position, who have been turned away by doctors when they sought abortions on serious medical grounds.
This ruling should enrage every Texan to their core, said Duane. If Kate can't get an abortion in Texas, who can? Kate's case is proof that exceptions don't work, and it's dangerous to be pregnant in any state with an abortion ban.
- 'Death sentence' -
While Kate had the ability to leave the state, most people do not, and a situation like this could be a death sentence, Northup said.
The Center said it believed Cox's case was the first in which a woman petitioned a court for an abortion since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973.
On Friday, a Kentucky woman who identified herself by the pseudonym Jane Doe and who is eight weeks pregnant also filed a lawsuit challenging her state's abortion bans.
The suit is filed on behalf of Doe and others in similar situations, and argues pregnant Kentuckians have the right to determine their own futures and make private decisions about their lives and relations.