Texas blocked from banning abortions

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge ordered Texas to temporarily stop enforcing its ban on abortions, which state leaders had declared medically unnecessary procedures that wasted scarce medical resources needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Texas’s Republican governor and attorney general last week threatened doctors with steep fines and jail time for performing even medication abortions that don’t require the use of personal protective equipment, such as surgical masks and sterile gloves and gowns. Only abortions needed to save the life of the mother were allowed under the governor’s order.

“The executive order, as written, does not exceed the governor’s power to deal with the emergency,” U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled Monday. “But the attorney general’s interpretation of that order constitutes the threat of criminal penalties against those whose interpretations differs.”

“Before fetal viability outside the womb, a state has no interest sufficient to justify an outright ban on abortions,” Yeakel said.

The temporary restraining order is in effect until April 13, the same day the Austin judge has set a hearing for further discussion of the matter.

The order was issued shortly after 16 states, led by Louisiana, filed papers supporting Texas’s bid to block abortions as a waste of scarce resources and a threat to public health during the covid-19 epidemic.

The Texas attorney general’s office had no immediate comment on the order.