Kate Cox Tells Her Story

The plight of Kate Cox—whose request to get an emergency abortion was denied by the state of Texas—has drawn widespread attention across the country.

“Kate Cox is at the heart of one of the most contentious cases since the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” according to The Daily’s recent podcast, “The Woman Who Fought the Texas Abortion Ban.” 

Although Cox had received a fatal fetal diagnosis and continuing the pregnancy would pose risks to her health and future fertility, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in December 2023 that it would not allow her to get an abortion in the state. Cox, the plaintiff in Cox v. Texas—a case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights—was forced to travel out of state to obtain the care she needed.

“I wanted to be here, close to home. I mean, it’s the hardest thing I’ve been through,” Cox told interviewer Tracy Smith in a CBS Sunday Morning interview. “I wanted to come home, cry on my own pillow, hold my babies, be near my doctors. . . That’s really what I thought about the most, going into this.”

Cox added on The Daily that she was “shocked” to find out that her case did not qualify for an emergency exception, given her fetus’s condition.

“There’s nobody that loves and wants a baby girl more than I do,” Cox said on The Daily. “But there’s no outcomes at the end of this where I take home a healthy baby girl. . . . I never thought I would ever want or need an abortion, but this is a medical decision, and it’s what’s needed for my health.”

Cox and her husband are currently parents to two young children and wish to have a large family.

Watch the CBS Sunday Morning segment here:

• “Kate Cox on her legal fight for an abortion in Texas,” CBS Sunday Morning, 01.14.24

Listen to the podcast here: 

• “The Woman Who Fought the Texas Abortion Ban,” The Daily, 12.14.23
• Or read the transcript here.

• View more media coverage and Center news on the case here.