Insider
- A Court of Appeals temporarily reinstated Texas’ abortion law on Friday.
- A federal judge temporarily paused the implementation of the abortion bill on Wednesday.
- The bill went into effect on September 1 and bans abortions after a heartbeat is detected.
A court has temporarily reinstated Texas’ restrictive abortion law on Friday after a judge paused it on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, US District Judge Robert Pitman blocked the enforcement of the law, known as the Texas Heartbeat Law, or SB 8, that initially went into effect on September 1.
-Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) October 9, 2021
In his opinion, Pitman said, “this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.”
Texas appealed the temporary block and on Friday, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted the state’s request and issued a temporary stay of SB 8, which bans abortions after six weeks, around the time a heartbeat is detected.
Pitman’s order was in response to a legal challenge brought on by the US Department of Justice. The Circuit Court on Friday also ordered the DOJ to respond to the ruling by Tuesday.
Some clinics had already resumed providing abortions on Thursday. CNN reported that clinics performing these abortions were taking a risk because the Texas law allows for enforcement actions to be applied to abortions that are done while a court is blocking the law if it is overturned by a higher court.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
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