High court divides 5-4 to leave Texas abortion law in place

WASHINGTON (AP) – A deeply divided Supreme Court is allowing a Texas law banning most abortions to remain in effect, removing the right to abortion from most women in the second largest state.

The court voted 5-4 to dismiss an urgency complaint from abortion providers and others trying to block enforcement of the law, which went into effect on Wednesday. But the judges also suggested that their order is unlikely to be the last word on whether the law can stand, as other appeals can be made.

Texas law, signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott in May, prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually about six weeks and before many women know they are pregnant.

It is the strictest anti-abortion law in the United States since the landmark Roe v. Court ruling. Wade in 1973 and part of a wider drive by Republicans across the country to impose new abortion restrictions. At least 12 other states have passed pregnancy bans, but all have been prevented from going into effect.

The High Court’s decision to stop Texas law came just before midnight on Wednesday. The majority said the prosecutors failed to meet the heavy burden required to suspend the law.

“In making this conclusion, we emphasize that we are not pretending to definitively resolve any legal or material claim in the claimant’s lawsuit. In particular, this ruling is not based on a conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas law and in no way restricts other procedural challenges to Texas law, including in Texas courts, ”the unsigned ruling stated.

Chief Justice John Roberts, along with the three liberal judges of the court, disagreed. Each of the four dissenting judges wrote separate statements expressing their disapproval of the majority.

Roberts noted that while the majority rejected the request for emergency aid, “the Court’s decision makes it very clear that it cannot be construed as upholding the constitutionality of the law in question”.

The vote in the case underscores the impact of the death of Liberal Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg last year and her replacement by then-President Donald Trump by Conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Had Ginsburg stayed in court, there would have been five votes to stop Texan law.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor called the decision of her conservative colleagues “stunning”. “Filed with a motion to enact blatantly unconstitutional law banning women from exercising their constitutional rights and evading judicial scrutiny, a majority of judges opted to stick their heads in the sand,” she wrote.

Texas lawmakers wrote the law to avoid federal review by allowing private individuals to bring civil claims in a state court against anyone but the patient involved in an abortion. Other abortion laws are enforced by state and local officials, with criminal penalties available.

In contrast, Texas law allows individuals, abortion providers, and anyone involved in abortion facilitation to sue. This includes anyone who drives a woman to a clinic to have an abortion performed. Under the law, anyone who successfully sues another person would be entitled to at least $ 10,000.

In her contradiction, Judge Elena Kagan called the law “apparently unconstitutional” and said it allowed “private parties to impose unconstitutional restrictions on behalf of the state.” And Judge Stephen Breyer said a “woman has a constitutional right to an abortion during” the first stage of pregnancy.

After a federal appeals court refused to review the law immediately before it went into effect, opponents of the measure petitioned the Supreme Court to review it.

In a statement early Thursday following the Supreme Court complaint, Nancy Northup, director of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents abortion providers who are challenging the law, swore “to fight this ban until access to abortion is restored in Texas is”.

“We are devastated that the Supreme Court refused to block a law that Roe v. Wade blatantly injured. Right now, people seeking an abortion across Texas are panicking – they have no idea where or when, if at all, to get an abortion. Texas politicians have at the moment managed to ridicule the rule of law, turn Texas abortion care on its head, and force patients to leave the state – if they have the means – to receive constitutionally protected health care. It should send shivers down the spine of everyone in this country who cares about the Constitution, ”she said.

Texas has long had some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the country, including a comprehensive law dating from 2013. The Supreme Court eventually overturned that law, but not until more than half of the state’s 40+ clinics closed.

Even before the Texas case reached the High Court, judges had planned to tackle the issue of abortion law in a larger case after the court began hearing arguments again in the fall. In this case, the state of Mississippi is asking to enforce an abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

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Associate press writer Paul J. Weber of Austin, Texas contributed to this report.