Mom in Texas abortion case to be Biden guest at State of the Union

• The mother at the center of a high-profile Texas Supreme Court abortion case will attend the State of the Union as a guest of President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden, the White House said.
• The Texas high court last month denied Kate Cox's request to terminate her pregnancy in the state after the mother-of-two learned her fetus had a fatal diagnosis as the result of a rare chromosomal disorder.
• Her attendance at the speech is an effort by Biden to share personal stories about the impacts of the reversal of the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Biden has made reproductive rights a central pillar of his election campaign against his expected opponent, the Republican former President Donald Trump.

The mother at the center of a high-profile Texas Supreme Court abortion case will attend President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech to Congress as a guest of the president and first lady Dr. Jill Biden, the White House said Wednesday.

The Texas high court last month denied Kate Cox's request to terminate her pregnancy in the state after the mother-of-two learned her fetus had a fatal diagnosis as the result of a rare chromosomal disorder.

Abortions have been banned in Texas since June 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its half-century-old ruling in the case Roe v. Wade.

To obtain an abortion, Cox was forced to travel out of Texas. Her lawyers had said that Cox's own health was at significantly increased risk if she carried the fetus to term.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Bidens spoke with Cox on Sunday, and "they thanked her for her courage in sharing her story, and speaking out about the impact of the extreme abortion ban in Texas."

"The first