Abortion providers appeal to U.S. Supreme Court in last-ditch effort to block new Texas law banning

[TexasTowelie]

Abortion providers appeal to U.S. Supreme Court in last-ditch effort to block new Texas law banning the procedure as early as six weeks

by Reese Oxner, Texas Tribune


Texas abortion providers made a last-minute plea to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to overturn the state’s new abortion restrictions law, which is set to come into effect Wednesday and would ban the procedure as early as six weeks of pregnancy — a period when many women are unaware that they are pregnant.

Providers and abortion advocacy groups say this would affect at least 85% of the abortions taking place in the state. The law would allow members of the general public to sue those who might have violated the restrictions, which providers call a “bounty hunting scheme.” In the Supreme Court emergency filing, attorneys for providers said the law would likely close clinics across the state and “immediately and catastrophically reduce abortion access in Texas.”

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Sunday denied a request to block the bill and canceled a hearing scheduled for Monday where at least 20 abortion providers hoped to testify against the measures, which would be some of the strictest in the country. Many providers had sued in an attempt to overturn the law.

"In less than two days, Texas politicians will have effectively overturned Roe v. Wade,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement Monday. “We have filed an emergency motion in the Supreme Court to block this law before clinics are forced to turn patients away. Patients will have to travel out of state – in the middle of a pandemic – to receive constitutionally guaranteed healthcare. And many will not have the means to do so. It’s cruel, unconscionable, and unlawful.”

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/30/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/