Just a few hours after U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman issued a temporary injunction Wednesday night barring enforcement of Texas’ controversial new abortion law, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an appeal to the injunction, a move that was totally expected.
“From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution. That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of an important right,” Pitman wrote in the ruling Wednesday.
In addition to the emergency injunction, Pitman denied Texas’ request to put a pause on his ruling while the state appealed it.
This is the first legal blow to the law, which had previously withstood early waves of challenges, including a review by the U.S. Supreme Court, which allowed it to remain in place.
KXAN.com in Texas is reporting the Texas law has set up the biggest test of abortion rights in the U.S. in decades, and it is part of a broader push by Republicans nationwide to impose new restrictions on abortion. But the Texas law has gone to the extreme.
The law, which went into effect on Sept. 1, bans abortions after a heartbeat can be detected, which typically occurs around six weeks of pregnancy. Instead of granting state officials the authority to enforce the law, it gives private parties the ability to sue medical personnel who perform banned abortions or even anyone who “aids or abets it,” such as giving a patient a ride to a procedure.
State-sanctioned bounty hunters
Critics of the Texas law argue that offering $10,000 awards for successful lawsuits is nothing more than a regulatory scheme that turns anti-abortion activists into bounty hunters.
The design of the law also creates procedural hurdles for lawsuits challenging it, since court orders blocking state laws are typically aimed at officials who are tasked with enforcing them, and not private citizens.
The procedural hurdles were questions Pittmen raised last Friday with the state’s lawyers. “I guess my obvious question to you is if the state is so confident in the constitutionality of the limitations on women’s access to abortion, then why did you go to such great lengths to create this very unusual private cause of action rather than just simply doing it directly?” Pitman asked the state’s attorneys Friday.
Constitutional Law Professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston Josh Blackman says the ruling doesn’t change much at this point. “I don’t think anything changes today, tomorrow, or even next week or next month. Until the U.S. Supreme Court says stop, I think the clinics in Texas will probably still stand guard,” Blackman told KXAN in an interview.
