A major case in Texas this week drew attention to the question of who can get exempted from an abortion ban. Most states that have banned the procedure allow for rare exceptions, but while that might seem clear on paper, in practice, it’s far more ambiguous.

Kate Cox, the woman at the center of the case in Texas; and Kate Zernike, a national correspondent for The New York Times, talk about the legal process and its surprising effect.

Guest: Kate Zernike, a national correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The Texas Supreme Court is weighing several casesabortion-kate-cox.html"> seeking to clarify the limits of medical exceptions to the state’s abortion bans.
• But the court’s ruling in Ms. Cox’s case has left doctors still unsure aboutabortion-doctor-prosecution.html"> which cases might pass legal muster.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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