Blocked hearing a setback for abortion providers in Texas
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Sunday delayed legal proceedings over Texas’ sweeping new six-week abortion ban, dealing a major setback to abortion providers who have sued to stop the ban and setting up what will likely be a last-ditch plea to the U.S. Supreme Court with only hours left before the ban takes effect.
In a single-page ruling, the court blocked a hearing that had been set for Monday and declined to expedite the appeals process, even with the law scheduled to roll out Wednesday. It gave no explanation for the decision.
Providers were expected to ask the high court to intervene as early as Sunday evening. Neither side issued immediate comments on the order.
As of now, the law will become the country’s first effective six-week abortion ban and could all but eliminate access to the procedure in a state of 29 million people. Unlike other states’ six-week bans, which are all tied up in court, the Texas law empowers private citizens to sue doctors and others who help women obtain an abortion after six weeks, or when a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Abortion providers sued in July to stop the ban, targeting judges and state officials who they say will help enforce it. They say the law violates women’s federally protected right to obtain abortions before a fetus can survive outside the womb.
Sunday’s order comes after abortion opponents appealed a procedural decision in the case last week. Without a ruling on it from the 5th Circuit or emergency intervention from the Supreme Court, the litigation could get drawn out past the law’s Wednesday start date. Both courts are led by strong conservative majorities.
The outcome of the case could have huge impacts on pregnant women in Texas, many of whom don’t know they’re pregnant before six weeks. Some abortion providers say they are preparing to shut down their procedures entirely because of the risk of potentially endless litigation. Under the law, they are not allowed to
recoup their legal expenses even if they win a case.
Providers performed about 54,000 abortions last year and 56,000 in 2019, according to state data.
Groups that support abortion access say the law will mostly affect low-income women and women of color, many of whom lack private insurance or the resources or time to travel to a state where the procedure is still legal.
Proponents of the law have been hopeful that its careful crafting will prevent providers from successfully challenging it in federal court. But in an order last week in the lawsuit from providers, District Court Judge Robert Pitman in Austin seemed skeptical.
“Forcing plaintiffs to wait until a state enforcement action is brought against them to raise their constitutional concerns would leave plaintiffs without the ability to vindicate their constitutional rights in federal court before any constitutional violation occurs,” he wrote.