A federal judge is evaluating the possibility of blocking the Texas abortion law. Known to be the country’s most stringent measure, it makes all abortions illegal in the State.
The law came to effect in September. Women wanting to abort their pregnancies for any reason will have to go outside the State to get the healthcare they require.
Justice Department Asks Judge To Block America’s Harshest Law On Abortion
President Biden asked the District judge to block the law. According to him, it attacks a woman’s constitutional right to abort her pregnancy.
Texas is behind only California in the matter of population in the country. And even if the judge halts the law, clinics will be reluctant to restart. Such a change requires a decision that stays permanent. Otherwise, citizens hold the right to sue the doctor who assists abortions.
The concern attests to the durability of the bill. It has been enduring tough resistance all through its way.
Pitman, the Obama-
Appointed Judge, oversaw the three-hour-long discussion. But he did not reveal when he will rule against the law.
As per the law, abortion upon cardiac activity is illegal. This happens after six weeks of pregnancy. At times, a woman knows she is pregnant only after 42 days.
The State has sought the services of private citizens to ensure the implementation of the law. Any citizen who happens to witness an abortion has the right to file a lawsuit against the facility or the doctor.
According to critics, the State knew that it is not possible to implement such a law. Thus they resorted to tactics to scare away healthcare facilities and clinicians who assisted women to exercise their rights.
Until now, every attempt at blocking the law met with miserable failure. Thus the lawsuit the Justice Department had filed gives hope to those trying to block the law.
Texas’s Republican Governor signed the GOP-introduced bill in May. It became law on September 1st.
Amy Hagstrom Miller, the president of Whole Woman’s Health, announced that 17 physicians in the four clinics she owns are prepared to resume abortion.
Certain physicians gave patients the 24-hour waiting time upon detecting cardiac activity in infants. This too is one of the restrictions included in the law. They did this so that they may be called back afterward.
They are not worried about the hundreds of patients they have to send back. They are concerned about the women who plead with them. They want the freedom to decide what is best for them. They want the clinic to include them in their list. And they request them to call the moment they receive a favorable verdict.
The majority of her doctors, however, are concerned about lawsuits. They need a binding and lasting decision from the court to resume work as usual.
Those who offer abortion services say that their fears are true to a great extent. Planned Parenthood announced that within 14 days after the law came into effect, its clinics saw an 80% declines in the number of patients.
Certain services fear that their clinics will be closed down. The other States, in the meantime, are grappling with the influx of patients seeking an abortion. Some are left with no choice, but to carry their pregnancies till the end.
According to those who favor the law, this is not a vigilante scheme. This law too uses the due process of justice of the State.
If the Justice Department succeeds, the State officials will see a reversal of ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It had allowed the bill to become a law.
Critics say that this is just one instance of the test on women’s right to abortion. It is a part of the Republicans’ campaign against the same.