In a late night decision, the Supreme Court refused to block a Texas abortion ban.
The court upheld the law in a 5-to-4 vote Wednesday night. Three Trump-appointed justices, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barret, joined two fellow conservatives. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the three liberal justices on the court in dissenting.
According to the opinion, the abortion providers did not address “complex and novel antecedent procedural questions” properly in their case against the law.
“In reaching this conclusion, we stress that we do not purport to resolve definitively any jurisdictional or substantive claim in the applicants’ lawsuit,” the decision reads.
It added, “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 “fetal heartbeat bill” bans all abortions after six weeks, as IJR reported. It applies to cases of incest and rape. Private citizens would also be allowed to sue abortion providers if they believe they are in violation of the measure.
President Joe Biden released a statement, arguing the bill “blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century.”
He added, “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. 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.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the bill in May, saying, “In Texas, we work to save those lives.”
