Supreme Court DECLINES to block Texas law which outlaws abortion after six weeks in 5-4 decision: 'Most restrictive ban since Roe v. Wade' goes into effect
The Supreme Court formally refused Wednesday to block a Texas law banning almost all abortions after six weeks, less than a day after the nation's most restrictive reproductive rights legislation took effect in the southern state.
The law, known as the 'Texas Heartbeat Act', bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected- before many women even know they are pregnant.
It makes no exceptions for rape or incest and allows Texans report people, including Uber drivers, who help or take women to get abortions. The only exemption is if there is a danger to the woman's health.
While similar laws have passed in a dozen Republican-led conservative states, all had been stymied in the courts.
The justices in a 5-4 vote denied an emergency request by abortion and women's health providers for an injunction barring enforcement of the new law which President Biden said 'blatantly violates Roe v. Wade'.
The law is the most dramatic restriction on abortion rights in the United States since the high court's landmark decision legalized abortion across the country in 1973.
'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.
The five conservative justices backed the law Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan dissented.
Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the court's order 'stunning,' saying her colleagues had 'opted to bury their head in the sand' over a 'flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights.'
Texas lawmakers wrote the law to evade federal court review by allowing private citizens to bring civil lawsuits in state court against anyone involved in an abortion, other than the patient.
Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan dissented. The other justices - all appointed by Republican presidents - allowed the law to stand. From left: Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Elena Kagan, John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Stephen Breyer, Amy Coney Barrett, and Sonia Sotomayor
University of Texas women rally at the Texas Capitol to protest the law on Wednesday
President Biden condemned new restrictions on abortion in Texas, which were signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (r) in May. They came into force on Wednesday morning
Hillary Clinton om Wednesday night accused the Supreme Court of 'doing nothing' and letting the 'unconstitutional abortion ban' go into effect.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also condemned the decision on Wednesday.
She wrote on Twitter: 'Republicans promised to overturn Roe v Wade, and they have.
'Democrats can either abolish the filibuster and expand the court, or do nothing as millions of peoples’ bodies, rights, and lives are sacrificed for far-right minority rule. This shouldn’t be a difficult decision.'
Other abortion laws are enforced by state and local officials, with criminal sanctions possible.
After a federal appeals court refused to allow a prompt review of the law before it took effect, the measure's opponents sought Supreme Court review.
The law bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected - sparking some women to scramble for 11th hour terminations before midnight.
The legislation, signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott in May, prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is typically in the first six weeks and before most women even know they're pregnant.
The law also allows private citizens, rather than government officials, to enforce the law by suing anyone involved in the procedure from an abortion clinic to someone driving a woman to a procedure appointment.
Biden promised to fight for women's constitutional rights enshrined under Roe v Wade.
'The Texas law will significantly impair women's access to the health care they need, particularly for communities of color and individuals with low incomes,' the president said.
He added: 'And, outrageously, it deputizes private citizens to bring lawsuits against anyone who they believe has helped another person get an abortion, which might even include family members, health care workers, front desk staff at a health care clinic, or strangers with no connection to the individual.'
The law forced many women throughout the state to flock abortion clinics to get the procedure done, with some only finding out they were pregnant in the past week.
Such was the case for a 21-year-old woman who spoke with Jezebel about her experience scrambling to get an appointment so she wouldn't have to travel out of state or continue with her pregnancy.
The woman, referred to only as Jen out of fear she would be targeted by anti-abortion activists, said she learned last week that she was eight weeks pregnant.
Jen, a sex worker and employee at a Texas donut shop, told the news outlet that she wouldn't be able to afford to schedule the procedure outside of Texas and, even if she could, would take an even bigger blow to her income from taking off work to do it.
Within the last week, she recalled being turned away from nearly every abortion clinic in her area as they were all fully booked.
A Texas law banning most abortions in the state took effect on Wednesday
Pro-choice activists urged the Supreme Court to intervene to ensure that women's protections are upheld
Abortion providers said the law would ban 85 percent of abortions and force many clinics in Texas to close
Jen finally scheduled an appointment at the Houston Women's Clinic and had her procedure done a few hours before Wednesday's deadline.
She told the news outlet, 'I know Texas is very conservative, and I figured there might be a lot of judgment and it might be a little hard, but I never seriously considered it that I wouldn't be able to get an abortion at all.'
When she got the clinic, she described the waiting room being at maximum capacity.
'They were going full throttle trying to get to everyone,' she said.
'Honestly, I would not have been able to go out of state - even the cost of the actual abortion dented my pocket a lot,' she said.
'The first appointment was $100 and the second one was $500 . . I'm just so happy I was able to do it the day before the ban and it's so sad that women here are going to have so much trouble now.'
Biden vowed that his administration would protect women's abortion rights, but he made no mention of the challenge at the Supreme Court, amid fears by activists that a more conservative bench was poised to uphold further restrictions on abortions.
Abortion providers who asked the Supreme Court to step in said the law would rule out 85 percent of abortions in Texas and force many clinics to close.
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, criticized the court's inaction.
'In refusing to intervene last night, the Supreme Court tipped the scales of justice in favor of one of the most draconian state abortion bans in history,' she said.
'[The law] strips away abortion access for most Texans.
'The Supreme Court has put the health and safety of Texans — especially people with lower incomes and people of color — in jeopardy.'
Texas state Rep. Donna Howard, center at lectern, stands with fellow lawmakers in the House Chamber as she opposes a bill introduced that would ban abortions as early as six weeks (May 2021)
Planned Parenthood is among the abortion providers that have stopped scheduling abortions beyond six weeks from conception.
At least 12 other states have enacted bans on abortion 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.
Abortion opponents who wrote the law also made it difficult to challenge the law in court, in part because it's hard to know whom to sue.
Texas has long had some of the nation's toughest abortion restrictions, including a sweeping law passed in 2013 that the Supreme Court eventually struck down but not before more than half of the state's 40-plus abortion clinics closed.
Lawmakers also are moving forward in an ongoing special session in Texas with proposed new restrictions on medication abortion.
This is a method using pills that accounts for roughly 40% of abortions in the U.S.
The Texas challenge seeks to prevent judges, county clerks and other state entities from enforcing the law.
A federal judge rejected a bid to dismiss the case, prompting an immediate appeal to the Louisiana-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which halted further proceedings.
No comments: