Appeals court upholds 2017 Texas law to ban abortion procedure
NEW ORLEANS — A Texas law outlawing an abortion method commonly used to end second-trimester pregnancies has been upheld by a federal appeals court in New Orleans.
The 2017 law in question has never been enforced.
It seeks to prohibit the use of forceps to remove a fetus from the womb without first using an injected drug or a suction procedure to ensure the fetus is dead.
Abortion rights advocates argued that the law, known as SB8 in court records, effectively outlaws what is often the safest method of abortion for women in the second trimester of pregnancy. The procedure is medically known as dilation and evacuation.
They also argued that fetuses cannot feel pain during the gestation period affected by the law.
Texas legislators banned the procedure with a law that describes it as “dismemberment abortion.”
Abortion rights supporters argued in court that one alternative provided in the law, using suction to remove a fetus, also results in dismemberment.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked enforcement of the law last year.
But Texas was granted a re-hearing by the full court, and a majority of the 14 appellate judges who heard arguments in January (three of the court’s 17 active judges were recused) sided with Texas on Wednesday. The opinion said “the record shows that doctors can safely perform D&Es and comply with SB8 using methods that are already in widespread use.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights is analyzing the decision and considering all legal options, said its president and CEO, Nancy Northup.
“Texas has been hellbent on legislating abortion out of existence, and it is galling that a federal court would uphold a law that so clearly defies decades of Supreme Court precedent,” Northup said.
Hurricane Grace: The Category 1 hurricane struck Mexico’s Caribbean coast just south of the ancient Mayan temples of Tulum early Thursday, pushing a dangerous storm surge. Heavy rain and strong winds threatened to destroy flimsier homes and keep tourists off white sand beaches until it crosses the Yucatan Peninsula.
The storm had already soaked earthquake-damaged Haiti, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands en route to a direct hit on the Riviera Maya, the heart of Mexico’s tourism industry. Grace’s center struck just south of Tulum at 4:45 a.m. CDT with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
As it moved over land, Grace weakened to a tropical storm Thursday with 65 mph sustained winds. It was moving west across the peninsula at 18 mph and was located about 85 miles west of Tulum.
The storm was forecast to re-emerge over the Gulf of Mexico.
Western wildfires: Dry and windy weather dogged firefighters’ efforts to contain destructive fires that are devouring the bone-dry forests of drought-stricken Northern California on Thursday.
An estimated 11,000 firefighters were on the lines of more than a dozen large wildfires that have
destroyed hundreds of homes and other buildings, forced thousands of people to flee communities and filled skies with smoke.
The monstrous Dixie Fire, burning since July 13 in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades, ballooned further to about 1,060 square miles and was only 35% contained, authorities said.
The fire, which gutted the town of Greenville two weeks ago, has destroyed more than 1,200 buildings including 649 homes, according to ongoing damage assessments.
About 100 miles to the south, there was still no official count of the number of homes destroyed when winds whipped the Caldor Fire into an inferno that roared through the Sierra town of Grizzly Flats this week.
Those who viewed the aftermath saw few homes still standing in Grizzly Flats, a community of 1,200 residents.
Soil from Mars moon: Japanese space agency scientists said Thursday they plan to bring soil samples back from the Mars region ahead of the United States and China, which started Mars missions last year, in hopes of finding clues to the planet’s origin and traces of possible life.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, plans to launch an explorer in 2024 to land on Phobos, a Martian moon, to collect 10 grams of soil and bring it back to Earth in 2029.
The rapid return trip is expected to put Japan ahead of the United States and China in bringing back samples from the Martian region despite starting later, project manager Yasuhiro Kawakatsu said in an online news conference.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has landed in a Mars crater where it is to collect 31 samples that are to be returned to Earth with help from the European Space
Agency as early as 2031. China in May became the second country to land and operate a spacecraft on Mars and plans to bring back samples around 2030.
JAXA scientists believe about 0.1% of the surface soil on Phobos came from Mars, and 10 grams could contain about 30 granules, depending on the consistency of the soil, Kawakatsu said.
Pakistan blast: A roadside bomb exploded among a procession of Shiite Muslims in central Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least three and wounding over 50 people, local police said.
Videos circulating on social media showed police and ambulances rushing toward the site of the explosion. Several wounded people were seen waiting for help along a road in the conservative city of Bahawalnagar in the eastern Punjab province, where the attack took place.
City police Officer Mohammad Asad and a
Shiite leader confirmed the bombing. Witnesses said tensions are high in the city, with Shiites demanding retribution.
Shafqat said the explosion went off while the procession was passing through a congested neighborhood known as Muhajir Colony.
Mafia suspect: One of Italy’s most wanted men, an alleged cocaine trafficker who investigators say bought two stolen Van Gogh paintings on the black market with drug money, has been arrested in Dubai, Naples-based police said Thursday.
Raffaele Imperiale, an alleged kingpin in the Naples-based Camorra organized crime syndicate, was arrested on Aug. 4, Italy’s state police and financial crimes police corps said in a joint statement.
Imperiale, 46, was being held in the United Arab Emirates while Italy’s justice ministry completes extradition procedures.