Appeals court: Texas 6-week abortion ban will remain in effect
The Women’s March was dedicated to defending the right to abortion.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said Thursday it will allow the controversial new abortion law from Texas that prohibits them after about six weeks of pregnancy remains in effect, while you consider an appeal of a judge’s order blocking it, according CNN.
The panel vote was 2-1.
Texas law prohibits abortions after fetal heart activity is detected, which usually occurs around six weeks of pregnancy and often before a woman knows she is pregnant. It has been the subject of heated litigation since before it took effect early last month.
The Justice Department challenged the abortion law from Texas in federal court.
Federal District Judge Robert Pitman blocked the application of the abortion law from Texas October 6.
Texas appealed, and two days after Pitman’s order, a three-judge panel of the appeals court imposed a brief administrative stay on the order. That appeals panel is the one that has now extended that suspension and has maintained the abortion law from Texas in effect, while considering Pitman’s order on appeal.
Appellate Justices Catharina Haynes, appointed by George W. Bush, and James Ho, appointed by Donald Trump, voted to keep the law in place. Justice Carl Stewart, appointed by Bill Clinton, disagreed.
With the last measure of the 5th Circuit, it is expected that the Justice Department go to Supreme court with a request to stop the law.
The Supreme court had refused to block the law after clinics requested an intervention earlier this year.
Appointing citizens to enforce the law is what makes it difficult to block it
The abortion law from TexasInstead of tasking government officials with enforcing the ban, through criminal or administrative sanctions, it delegates private citizens to litigate in state courts against providers or anyone who helps a woman with get an abortion. or against any woman who undergoes an abortion after fetal heart activity is detected.
The design of this enforcement mechanism has been highly successful in limiting other legal attempts to block it, because it complicated the usual route of seeking court orders against specific government officials, who are generally the ones in charge of implementing the law.
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