The US Supreme Court has refused to stop a Texas ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy thereby rejecting the request from abortion rights supporters to block the law.
The law, which prohibits most abortions after six weeks and went into effect on Wednesday, was drafted by Texas lawmakers with the goal of frustrating efforts to challenge it in federal court.
This leaves abortion providers in Texas no other choice but to notify women they would no longer offer the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy in compliance with the law. The court’s ruling marks a major milestone in the fight over abortion, as opponents have sought to take back access to the procedure for decades.
By a 5-4 vote, the judges rejected an emergency request for an injunction on abortion and enforcement of the ban by female health providers, which went into effect early Wednesday, while litigation continues.
Chief Justice John Roberts, one of the court’s six conservatives, joined three of its liberals in disagreement.
“The court order is astonishing,” wrote liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a dissenting opinion.
“Presented with an application for women to be included in an unconstitutional law to exercise their constitutional rights and to avoid judicial scrutiny, most judges have opted to bury their heads in the sand.”
In an unsigned clarification, the court’s majority said the decision was “not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas law” and allowed legal challenges to proceed.
According to CBS news, before the law took effect on Wednesday night, Whole Woman’s Health, which operates four clinics in Texas and is a plaintiff in the case, reported having full waiting rooms of patients seeking abortions. But as of Wednesday, the clinics would only provide the procedures if ultrasounds do not show cardiac activity in compliance with the law, Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, told reporters.
In their request to the court, the abortion rights groups estimated at least 85% of women who undergo abortions in Texas are at least six weeks pregnant. They warned the law prohibits nearly all abortions in the state and will drive many abortion clinics to close.
“Patients who can scrape together resources will be forced to attempt to leave the state to obtain an abortion, and many will be delayed until later in pregnancy,” they argued. “The remaining Texans who need an abortion will be forced to remain pregnant against their will or to attempt to end their pregnancies without medical supervision.”
The law, the abortion providers wrote, would “immediately and irreparably decimate abortion access in Texas,” if allowed to remain in effect. It does not provide an exception for pregnancies that result from rape or incest. No state has allowed such a ban since the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
The court’s action on the Texas ban could undo its approach to a 15-week ban by Mississippi in another case in which the state struck down Roe v. Wade is asked to reverse. In a term that begins in October, the court will hear with a verdict by the end of June 2022.
