A Texas law that bans all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy went into effect Wednesday after the Supreme Court let the midnight deadline to stop it pass.
The Court could still grant an emergency request from abortion providers to halt the law. But in the meantime, the ban — the most restrictive in the country — stands.
In their emergency appeal, abortion providers said that the ban will prevent the vast majority of Texas women seeking abortions from doing so. Many women don’t yet know that they’re pregnant after six weeks.
“If permitted to take effect, S.B. 8 would immediately and catastrophically
reduce abortion access in Texas, barring care for at least 85% of Texas abortion patients (those who are six weeks pregnant or greater) and likely forcing many abortion clinics ultimately to close,” the providers wrote.
The Texas law includes no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from incest or rape.
The Context
- Supporters of abortion rights have long feared that the 6-3 conservative Supreme Court would take a hatchet to abortion protections. Former President Donald Trump, who appointed three of them, promised to select candidates who would overturn Roe v. Wade.
- At least 12 other states have enacted abortion bans, but all of them have been blocked.
- The Texas law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in May, was written specifically to make it difficult for its opponents to win pre-enforcement injunction. It bars Texas officials from enforcing the statute, instead empowering individuals to sue anyone who performs the procedure, or who "aids or abets" it.
- If the conservative majority does intend to dismantle the precedent set by Roe v. Wade and reaffirmed in Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the Texas law is not the Court's only bite at the apple this year. It has agreed to take up a 15-week ban out of Mississippi when the next term starts in October.
A Texas law that bans all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy went into effect Wednesday after the Supreme Court let the midnight deadline to stop it pass.
The Court could still grant an emergency request from abortion providers to halt the law. But in the meantime, the ban — the most restrictive in the country — stands.
In their emergency appeal, abortion providers said that the ban will prevent the vast majority of Texas women seeking abortions from doing so. Many women don’t yet know that they’re pregnant after six weeks.
“If permitted to take effect, S.B. 8 would immediately and catastrophically
reduce abortion access in Texas, barring care for at least 85% of Texas abortion patients (those who are six weeks pregnant or greater) and likely forcing many abortion clinics ultimately to close,” the providers wrote.
The Texas law includes no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from incest or rape.