Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday said a legal challenge brought by abortion providers in Texas against a state law banning most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy can move forward, but left the law in effect while proceedings continue.
The court ruled 8-1 in favor of the providers in allowing them to pursue a challenge against some of the defendants named in their suit, namely "executive licensing officials" who take enforcement actions against the clinics if they violate Texas' abortion law, known as S.B. 8. Only Justice Clarence Thomas dissented in allowing the clinics' suit against the licensing officials to proceed. The abortion providers' earlier efforts to block enforcement of the law had been unsuccessful because the ban's unique design insulated it from federal court review.
Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the opinion for the court, noting that "in this preliminary posture, the ultimate merits question — whether S. B. 8 is consistent with the federal Constitution — is not before the court. Nor is the wisdom of S. B. 8 as a matter of public policy."
But on the issue of whether the providers can sue licensing officials, Gorsuch wrote "sovereign immunity does not bar the petitioners' suit against these named defendants at the motion to dismiss stage."
The high court sent the case back to the lower courts for further proceedings. In a separate unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the Texas law brought by the Justice Department.
Since the Texas law went into effect at the beginning of September, abortions have effectively been outlawed in Texas, as the measure prohibits abortions after embryonic cardiac activity is detected, usually at about six weeks of pregnancy and often before a woman knows she is pregnant. Some clinics in the state stopped providing abortions entirely, while others directed patients to neighboring states, where procedures are still being performed.
The central issue in the case, known as Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson, was not whether the Texas measure comports with the Supreme Court's past decisions on abortion, which prohibit states from outlawing abortions before fetal viability, generally between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. Instead, the dispute before the high court focused on the law's novel enforcement mechanism and who could sue over the ban in federal court.
0 Comments