Biden slams 'legal and medical chaos' in Texas after woman forced to seek out-of-state abortion

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President Biden on Tuesday castigated the state of Texas after a pregnant woman whose unborn baby had a fatal condition was forced to leave the state to seek an abortion.

The Texas Supreme Court had ruled against the woman, Kate Cox, who had sued Texas to obtain an abortion after her baby was diagnosed with trisomy 18, which carries a very high likelihood of miscarriage or stillbirth and a low survival rate. Biden called the case "outrageous." 

"Legal and medical chaos, as we are witnessing in states like Texas, Kentucky and Arizona, is a direct result of Roe v. Wade being overturned, and as we predicted would happen, women’s health and lives now hang in the balance," the president said in a statement. 

TEXAS SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST PREGNANT WOMAN HOURS AFTER SHE LEAVES STATE TO OBTAIN ABORTION

US President Joe Biden during a news conference with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine's president, not pictured, in the Indian Treaty Room on the White House complex, in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. Biden on Monday slammed the state of Texas after a woman whose fetus had a fatal condition was forced to leave the state to seek an abortion.  (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"Republican elected officials have imposed dangerous abortion bans that jeopardize women’s health, force them to travel out of state for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors. Their agenda is extreme and out-of-step with the vast majority of Americans," he added, vowing to continue his administration's effort to have Congress codify federal abortion protections.  

The Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion rights group that represents Cox, said Monday that she was forced to leave Texas to obtain an abortion. 

TEXAS ABORTION BAN CHALLENGED AS ORAL ARGUMENTS BEGIN

Kate Cox, 31, was forced to leave the state of Texas to seek an abortion after the state Supreme Court ruled her fetus' diagnosis of trisomy 18 did not qualify for an exception under Texas' abortion ban.  (Kate Cox via AP)

"Kate has been unable to get an abortion in Texas, even though her fetus has a fatal condition and continuing the pregnancy threatens her future fertility," the organization said. 

The baby's condition, trisomy 18, occurs in approximately 1 in 2,500 diagnosed pregnancies, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. There is no live birth in about 70% of pregnancies involving the diagnosis that proceeds past 12 weeks gestational age, according to a legal filing that the two groups submitted to the court.

SUPREME COURT DECLINES TO HEAR CHALLENGE TO NEW YORK LAW ALLOWING ABORTION CLINIC BUFFER ZONES

Abortion rights advocates gather in front of the J Marvin Jones Federal Building and Courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, on March 15, 2023. (MOISES AVILA/AFP via Getty Images)

Texas' abortion restrictions make narrow exceptions when the life of the mother is in danger, but not for fetal anomalies. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that Cox had not shown that any of the complications in her pregnancy rose to the level of threatening her life. The state Supreme Court agreed with Paxton, ruling that Cox had failed to demonstrate her pregnancy fell under the exception.

Cox, who lives in the Dallas area, was believed to be the first woman in the U.S. to ask a court for permission for an abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.

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"No woman should be forced to go to court or flee her home state just to receive the health care she needs. But that is exactly what happened in Texas thanks to Republican elected officials, and it is simply outrageous," Biden said.

"This should never happen in America, period." 

Fox News Digital's Bradford Betz and the Associated Press contributed to this report.