Abortion ban law is suspended

A FEDERAL judge has ordered Texas to suspend the most restrictive abortion law in the US, which since September has banned most abortions in the state.

The order by US District Judge Robert Pitman is the first legal blow to the Texas law known as Senate Bill 8, which until now had withstood a wave of early challenges.

In the weeks since the restrictions took effect, Texas abortion providers say the impact has been “exactly what we feared”.

Judge Pitman took Texas to task over the law, saying Republican politicians had “contrived an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme” to deny patients their constitutional right to an abortion.

“From the moment SB 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution,” Judge Pitman wrote.

But even with the law on hold, abortion services in Texas may not instantly resume as doctors still fear that they could be sued without a more permanent legal decision.

Texas officials are likely to seek a swift reversal from the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously allowed the restrictions to take effect.

The law, signed by Republican governor Greg Abbott in May, prohibits abortions once cardiac activity is detected, which is usually around six weeks.

To enforce the law, Texas deputised private citizens to file lawsuits against violators, and has entitled them to at least 10,000 dollars (£7,360) in damages if successful.

The lawsuit was brought by the Biden administration, which has said the restrictions were enacted in defiance of the US Constitution.

The administration argued Texas has waged an attack on a woman’s constitutional right to abortion.

“A state may not ban abortions at six weeks. Texas knew this but it wanted a six-week ban anyway, so the state resorted to an unprecedented scheme of vigilante justice designed to scare abortion providers and others who might help women exercise their constitutional rights,” Justice Department lawyer Brian Netter said.

Abortion providers say their fears have become reality in the short time the law has been in effect.