Texas said to see early effects of abortion law

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department lawsuit aimed at derailing Texas’ new abortion law won’t immediately alter the landscape for abortion clinics or women seeking to end pregnancies after six weeks.

But the status quo has already changed dramatically since Senate Bill 8 took effect Sept. 1. Abortions are down at least 90%.

Two dozen clinics in Texas perform about 53,000 abortions each year, according to state data. Rough math suggests that in the first 10 days, about 1,300 women who would have terminated pregnancies may have no choice but to carry to term.

Or as the law’s advocates see it, 1,300 lives have already been saved.

That number is expected to tick up by about 1,000 a week until the courts sort it all out, and many legal skirmishes are underway.

The Justice Department lawsuit, and requests for a preliminary and permanent injunction and a declaration of the law as unconstitutional, are in the hands of U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, a Barack Obama appointee and former U.S. attorney.

The lawsuit paints the Texas law as a flagrant violation of women’s constitutional rights that seeks to evade judicial review by taking enforcement out of the hands of government officials.

Abortion-rights advocates see ample legal ammunition in the 27-page filing for Pitman to suspend enforcement, at minimum. However he rules, an appeal is almost certain.

That would go to the 5th Circuit federal appeals court in New Orleans, which is already wrestling with aspects of the Texas law — the issue at the heart of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling that let the law take effect, rejecting a plea from abortion providers on grounds they hadn’t shown irreparable harm yet because no one had sued so far under the vigilante provision.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, announcing the federal effort to strike down the law on Thursday, warned that if Texas is allowed to strip women of their rights by deputizing legal vigilantes, then abortion isn’t the only right in peril.

The risk of financial ruin from such lawsuits is so great that providers say they have had no choice but to turn away most women. Before Sept. 1, as few as one in 20 abortions took place in the first six weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion foes shrug off complaints that the law creates a Catch-22.

With providers falling in line, “there’s no justification for us to file anything at this moment,” said John Seago, legislative director of Texas Right to Life. “We don’t have any intention of bringing frivolous lawsuits.”

Texas Right to Life pushed for the law and set up a website to collect tips on potential defendants.

“The legislative intent is that the bill is complied with and that abortions are stopped after a heartbeat is detected. In that sense it’s working,” Seago said.

On Friday, the 6th Circuit appeals court tossed out Tennessee’s fetal heartbeat law, reaffirming that under existing Supreme Court rulings, that cutoff point is much too early.

The ruling “rightly respected nearly 50 years of precedent,” said Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project. “With all eyes on the devastating effect of Texas’ abortion ban, this is a welcome news for Tennesseans and the rule of law.”

“Every day that this extreme abortion ban remains in place is another day that the overwhelming majority of our patients are forced to try and leave the state just to access essential health care,” Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas said Friday.

The longer the Texas law is in effect, the worse the financial pain for abortion providers, advocates say. With revenue reduced, they may struggle to cover salaries and rent. Advocates fear that some clinics will be forced to close, making access to abortion even harder.