SCOTUS refused to intervein in Texas Heart Beat Bill. Does that mean its now law, well not so fast. It was rejected on process…
Washington — The Supreme Court late Wednesday declined to halt a Texas law banning abortions as early as six weeks of pregnancy, allowing the nation’s most restrictive measure to remain in effect.
The court ruled 5-4 against providing relief to abortion providers, who asked the Supreme Court on Monday to put the law, which outlaws most abortions in the state, on hold. Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices were in dissent.
The high court failed to act before the law took effect earlier Wednesday, and abortion providers in Texas informed women they would no longer offer the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy in compliance with the law. Then, nearly 24 hours later, the high court rejected the request from abortion rights supporters to block the law.
In its opinion, the majority acknowledged the abortion providers “have raised serious questions regarding the constitutionality of the Texas law at issue,” but said their request to the court presents “complex and novel” procedural questions that prevented them from meeting their burden.
While the high court refused to stop the law while the legal fight continues, the majority said its decision “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 decision from the Supreme Court is a significant victory for anti-abortion advocates, who are looking to the high court’s expanded 6-3 conservative majority — with three justices appointed by former President Trump — to chip away at Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that established a woman’s right to an abortion. The court is poised to hear this fall a case involving Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, and a decision upholding that measure could clear the way for more restrictive abortion laws.
Story continues at: SCOTUS affirms Texas Heart Beat Bill
