Kate Cox Leaves Texas to Obtain an Abortion

I put up a series of posts last week to illustrate the tortuous path taken by Kate Cox in order to terminate a pregnancy that posed a threat to her health and future reproductive prospects. By the end of the week, the Texas Attorney General was threatening civil and criminal action against her doctor and any hospital that allowed the procedure to be performed there AND the Texas Supreme Court stayed the order of a Texas trial judge that was based on the judge's conclusion that Ms. Cox fell within the statutory exception to Texas's abortion ban.

As reported this afternoon by the Washington Post, the New York Times, NBC, ABC, and the Guardian, Ms. Cox has left the state to obtain the abortion that has so far been denied her in her home state: 

“Kate desperately wanted to be able to get care where she lives and recover at home surrounded by family,” Nancy Northup, the chief executive for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which was representing Ms. Cox in her case, said in a statement on X. “While Kate had the ability to leave the state, most people do not, and a situation like this could be a death sentence.”

Ms. Cox describes last week's legal developments as "hellish." It's a fit description of a society that meets a very human loss such as hers with motions, briefs, opinions, orders, and sabre-rattling by an indicted Attorney General. It reminds me of Grant Gilmore's great quote from The Ages of American Law (1977):

Law reflects, but in no sense determines the moral worth of a society…. The better the society, the less law there will be. In Heaven, there will be no law, and the lion will lie down with the lamb…. The worse the society, the more law there will be. In Hell, there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously observed.

Unfortunately, last week was Kate Cox's introduction to hell.