AP Photo/Nick Wagner

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened to prosecute any doctors who perform an abortion on a woman after a state judge ruled she may obtained one due to medical necessity.

On Thursday, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble issued a temporary restraining order in favor of 31-year-old Kate Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant. The order allows a doctor to perform an abortion without being subject to civil or criminal penalties. Abortion is banned in Texas from the moment of conception with few exceptions.

According to her lawsuit, Cox’s fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 18, a chromosomal condition that comes with many physical abnormalities. The suit states the fetus would not be able to live more than a few days outside the womb.

In a statement, Paxton, a Republican, said the judge’s order is irrelevant as far as Texas’ anti-abortion law is concerned:

The Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) granted by the Travis County district judge purporting to allow an abortion to proceed will not insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone else, from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws. This includes first degree felony prosecutions, Tex. Health & Safety Code § 170A.004, and civil penalties of not less than $100,000 for each violation, Tex. Health & Safety Code §§ 170A.005, 171.207-211. And, while the TRO purports to temporarily enjoin actions brought by the OAG and TMB against Dr. Karsan and her staff, it does not enjoin actions brought by private citizens. Tex. Health & Safety Code § –1171.207. Nor does it prohibit a district or county attorney from enforcing Texas’ pre-Roe abortion laws against Dr. Karsan or anyone else. The TRO will expire long before the statute of limitations for violating Texas’ abortion laws expires.

Several states began enacting restrictive laws on abortion last year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which recognized a constitutional right to the procedure. In a 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the justices said the matter must be decided by the states or Congress.

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