District Judge Robert Pitman (Obama’s appointee) granted the Justice Department’s motion to suspend the Texas abortion law until federal courts finally determine the legality of the measure.
Pitman particularly disliked the Texas parliamentarians’ innovation, which endowed individuals, not government agencies, with the right to enforce the law and allowing them to judge individual doctors and medical institutions who, in their opinion, perform abortions illegally. If the case wins, the plaintiff is reimbursed for legal costs and receives $ 10 thousand from the defendant.
If control over the execution was entrusted, as usual, to government agencies, the supporters of abortion would have dragged them to court in advance, otherwise they do not know in advance with whom to start a lawsuit.
Texas parliamentarians also foresaw the existence of such ministers of Themis as Pitman, having prescribed in the text of their bill that abortionists could be tried retroactively after the temporary ban on the execution of the law, during which medical institutions carried out abortion procedures, was lifted. So Pitman himself had doubts about whether abortionists would be afraid to take advantage of the legal cover provided to them and resume their activities.
The central provision of Texas law is a ban on abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, the period when the fetal heartbeat can be heard on ultrasound. Freedom of abortion advocates point out that at this point, many women still do not know about their pregnancy. Texas law provides for exceptions in cases where keeping the baby threatens the health of the woman in labor, but not in cases of rape or incest.
Last month, the Supreme Court, by 5 votes to 4, refused to immediately block the law, after which the Byden Department of Justice sued Texas. The Supreme Court will soon review a similar Mississippi law prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy for constitutionality. Another 10 states have introduced similar restrictions on abortion. Their future is in question today.
Texas reacted to Pitman’s decision as expected and appealed it to the Conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The latter’s response was extremely quick and also expected: the ban imposed by Pitman was lifted, abortion in Texas was again temporarily banned. Biden members are required to answer in the coming days whether they will appeal to the Supreme Court; almost certainly they will, only it is unclear whether he will agree to take the case for consideration. Regardless of what the Supreme Court decides in the end, the advocates of freedom of abortion have the right to wrestle Texas all the way in state courts.
Newspaper headline:
“No” to abortion! Or yes”?
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