(Washington Insider Magazine) -A federal appeals court indicated Tuesday, Oct. 12, the end of the week would be the earliest it would make its next major move, in the continuing case of Texas’ six-week abortion ban. After a federal court suspended the ban last week, Texas obtained an administrative stay from the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals late Friday, resuming the abortion ban after it had been halted for only two days.
Texas has been permitted to execute a legislation directly in contradiction with Roe v. Wade for over a month and a half. The 1973 Roe v. Roe ruling established constitutional safeguards for abortions prior to viability, which occurs 23 weeks.
According to Texas Right to Life, which pushed for the state’s six-week abortion ban, the law prevents 100 abortions each day.
Until last week, when Judge Robert Pitman halted the bill, Texas abortion providers claimed that they were following the law (apart from a lone physician who announced last month that he had performed a non-compliant abortion while the ban was in effect).
Patients from Texas are flocking out-of-state clinics. Sixty percent of abortion patients at Louisiana’s Hope Medical Group are from Texas.
Twelve of the 23 appointments booked for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Texas on Saturday were canceled immediately following the 5th Circuit’s decision. During ultrasounds, three more of the patients were discovered to be too far along in their pregnancies to get abortions under the prohibition.
The panel requested Texas to respond to the latest United States Department of Justice brief by Thursday.
On the appeal panel are Judges Carl Stewart, a Bill Clinton appointment, Catharina Haynes, a George W. Bush nominee, and James Ho, a Trump appointee who has often indicated his dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court ruling enshrining a right to abortion.
If the 5th Circuit again sides with Texas and rules that the legislation may be enforced while the appeal is being heard, the DOJ is likely to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
