Federal judge blocks Texas’ 6-week abortion ban

AUSTIN, Texas (CN) — The Texas law considered the nation’s most successful attack on abortion rights was blocked by a federal judge Wednesday evening. Since taking effect in September, the law effectively prevented most abortions, with many border states seeing an influx of Texas residents seeking the procedure.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, an Obama appointee, ruled to block the law after the Biden administration filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas in September. Pitman ruled that the law, known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, deprives an individual of their constitutional right to an abortion. In his ruling, Pitman granted a temporary injunction of the law and denied the state’s motion to dismiss.  

“Fully aware that depriving its citizens of this right by direct state action would be flagrantly unconstitutional, the State contrived an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme to do just that,” wrote Pitman. 

The law banned abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, approximately six weeks into pregnancy, oftentimes before a woman is aware she is pregnant. Critics argued that the law then effectively banned all abortions.

However, instead of the law being enforced by the state of Texas, lawmakers crafted a never before seen private cause of action for private individuals to use as enforcement. Private citizens were given the ability to sue abortion providers or people who help a woman receive an abortion, and if successful were awarded $10,000 and attorneys fees. This provision not only complicates enforcement of the overall law but strategically maneuvers around any judicial review.

Pitman addressed this in his ruling, writing, “[Lawmakers] drafted the law with the intent to preclude review by federal courts that have the obligation to safeguard the very rights the statute likely violates.”

Critics described the law as setting a bounty on the heads of abortion providers, families and women who seek out an abortion. Almost instantly, clinics across the state quit offering the procedure out of fear they would be sued into bankruptcy. People seeking abortion have been inundating clinics in bordering states of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana. 

Pitman wrote in his ruling, "From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution."

“For more than a month now, Texans have been deprived of abortion access because of an unconstitutional law that never should have gone into effect. The relief granted by the court today is overdue, and we are grateful that the Department of Justice moved quickly to seek it,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland praised the decision, calling it “a victory for women in Texas and for the rule of law.”

In a statement, anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life said, "We are confident that the Texas Heartbeat Act will ultimately withstand this legal challenge and succeed where other states’ heartbeat bills have not."

Another area that drew controversy is that the law did not provide exceptions in cases of rape or incest. A small number of Republican state lawmakers have since voiced support for amending the law to provide such expectations.

Initial lawsuits filed by the pro-life group Texas Right to Life were temporarily blocked from going forward against Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas’ most populated states. Challenges to the law itself have faced difficulties as lawyers and judges have grappled with the new law and its unique provisions.

The law took effect on Sept. 1. That evening, answering an emergency order filed by abortion providers, the Supreme Court denied blocking it. In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court's liberals, calling the law “not only unusual but unprecedented.” The court was able to decide this through the use of the shadow docket, which allows the high court to rule on issues without going through the traditional appeals channels or allowing for oral argument. 

Justices did allude to the Texas law in question returning to them in the traditional appeals process. With federal judge ruling against the state, it is likely officials will appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, considered to be one of the most ideologically conservative federal appeals courts.

This case has the potential to be that very case that returns the Texas Heartbeat Act to the Supreme Court. However, the debate over abortion rights wages on as justices will hear arguments in a case concerning a Mississippi law that bans abortion within 15 weeks of gestation. Many abortion rights advocate that with a cemented conservative majority on the high court, the Mississippi case could set the stage for justices to overturn Roe v. Wade.

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