Albuquerque Journal

MOST ABORTIONS IN TEXAS END AS STRICT LAW STANDS

Emergency appeal rejected Wednesday

- BY JESSICA GRESKO, PAUL J. WEBER AND MARK SHERMAN

In 5-4 vote, a deeply divided Supreme Court allows the nation’s most rigid roadblock to procedure to remain in force for now.

A deeply divided Supreme Court is allowing a Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in force, stripping most women of the right to an abortion in the nation’s second-largest state.

The court voted 5-4 late Wednesday to deny an emergency appeal from abortion providers and others that sought to block enforcemen­t of the law that went into effect Wednesday.

The Texas law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May, prohibits abortions once medical profession­als can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and before most women know they’re pregnant.

“In reaching this conclusion, we stress that we do not purport to resolve definitive­ly any jurisdicti­onal or substantiv­e claim in the applicants’ lawsuit. In particular, this order is not based on any conclusion about the constituti­onality of Texas’s law, and in no way limits other procedural­ly proper challenges to the Texas law, including in Texas state courts,” the court said in the unsigned order.

Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan dissented.

It is the strictest law against abortion rights in the United States since the high court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 and part of a broader push by Republican­s across the country to impose new restrictio­ns on abortion. At least 12 other states have enacted bans early in pregnancy, but all have been blocked from going into effect.

What makes the Texas law different is its unusual enforcemen­t scheme. Rather than have officials responsibl­e for enforcing the law, private citizens are authorized to sue abortion providers and anyone involved in facilitati­ng abortions. Among other situations, that would include anyone who drives a woman to a clinic to get an abortion. Under the law, anyone who successful­ly sues another person would be entitled to at least $10,000.

“Starting today, every unborn child with a heartbeat will be protected from the ravages of abortion,” Abbott said in a statement posted on Twitter. “Texas will always defend the right to life.” But protests were quick. President Joe Biden said in a statement that the law “blatantly violates the constituti­onal right establishe­d under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century.” He said the law “outrageous­ly” gives private citizens the power “to bring lawsuits against anyone who they believe has helped another person get an abortion.”

Likewise, the American Medical Associatio­n said it was deeply disturbed by “this egregious law.” The law “not only bans virtually all abortions in the state, but it interferes in the patient-physician relationsh­ip, and places bounties on physicians and health care workers simply for delivering care,” said a statement from Dr. Gerald E. Harmon, the AMA president.

Clinics have said the law would rule out 85% of abortions in Texas and force many clinics to close. Planned Parenthood is among the abortion providers that have stopped scheduling abortions beyond six weeks from conception.

Abortion rights advocates say it will force many women to travel out of state for abortions, if they can afford to do so, and also navigate issues including childcare and taking time off work. The Guttmacher Institute, a research organizati­on that supports abortion rights, says if legal abortion care in Texas shuts down, the average one-way driving distance to an abortion clinic for Texans would increase from 12 miles to 248 miles.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States