Don’t mess with Texas (women) This week the Texas Supreme Court heard a case brought by 20 women denied emergency care under the state’s radical abortion ban (Texas Tribune): In August, state District Judge Jessica Mangrum ruled that the near-total abortion ban cannot be enforced in cases involving complicated pregnancies, including lethal fetal diagnoses. The state immediately appealed that ruling, putting it on hold. Texas law allows abortions only when it is necessary to save the life of the pregnant patient. But this lawsuit, filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights in March, claims that doctors are unsure when the medical exception applies, resulting in delayed or denied care. “No one knows what [the exception] means and the state won’t tell us,” Molly Duane, senior attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the justices Tuesday. The state argues the judge went too far in her injunction by reading exceptions into the law beyond what the Legislature intended. Plaintiff Taylor Edwards and Duane spoke to PBS about the suit. The penalties for doctors who perform abortions outside the ban’s restrictions “could not be more extreme,” Duane said: We are talking about life in prison, loss of medical license, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in civil fines. So, quite understandably, physicians are terrified. They don’t know when or how close to death a patient needs to be before they can provide abortion care. And they have been begging the Texas Medical Board and the rest of the state for guidance for years. And…