Queen Máxima of the Netherlands butted heads with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week over abortion rights in the state.
The queen, accompanied by Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Liesje Schreinemacher, spoke with Abbott during a diplomatic visit to the state over the weekend.
Queen Máxima reportedly criticized Abbott for Texas's pro-life legislation following the overturn of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court.
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The full exchange between the leaders is not publicly available, but both the queen and the governor seem to have held firm to their individual policy decisions.
"There’s one point of concern that I wanted to raise, and that is on the right to safe abortion for women. Obviously, the Netherlands has a strong standpoint in that," Schreinemacher reportedly told Abbott. "I was wondering if we could, maybe partner up as counterparts to see what we can do in that [abortion] stance for Texas."
Abortion is currently legal in the Netherlands until 24 weeks. After the 24-week mark, abortions are only legal in cases of health risks or medical emergency.
"One thing we put high importance on here is the safety and health of the mother," the governor reportedly told the Dutch leaders. "But the other thing we put importance on is the safety and health of the baby."
Abbott has been a champion of outlawing abortion after a heartbeat can be detected – a very early landmark in an unborn baby's development that makes abortion virtually illegal except in similar exceptional cases of medical emergency or health risks.
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A federal judge in Texas blocked the Biden administration late on Tuesday from enforcing new guidance in the Republican-led state requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions to women regardless of state bans on the procedure.
U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix in Lubbock agreed with Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' guidance was unauthorized and went beyond the text of a related federal law.
The judge declined to enjoin the guidance nationwide and instead only barred HHS from enforcing it and its interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act in Texas and against two anti-abortion groups of doctors.
