Texas Supreme Court takes up challenge to state's restrictive abortion law

by Eleanor Klibanoff, Texas Tribune


The Texas Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday in a narrow challenge to the state’s new abortion law, which has blocked access to the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy for nearly six months.

This hearing before the state high court is an interim step in the ongoing federal lawsuit brought by abortion providers trying to challenge the law. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has asked the Texas Supreme Court to weigh in on a question of state law before the appeals court proceeds with its ruling.

The law, originally passed as Senate Bill 8, is designed to evade judicial review, a goal at which it has so far been successful. The law specifically precludes state officials from enforcing it, instead deputizing private citizens to bring civil lawsuits against anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy.

Lawyers representing the abortion providers have sought to prove that there is state enforcement, which would give them an avenue to seek an injunction to stop the law from being enforced. They argued that the law is enforced by court clerks who docket the lawsuits, judges who hear them, the state’s attorney general and others.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/24/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/