Federal Judge Votes to Suspend Controversial Texas Abortion Ban

The law, which prohibits Texas women from legally obtaining an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, has been blocked from being enforced while its legality is challenged.

Credit: Getty Images
Credit: Getty Images

A federal judge in Texas issued an order on Wednesday, siding with the decision of the Justice Department to temporarily ban the state’s highly restrictive abortion bill known as S.B. 8.

Federal District Court Judge Robert Pitman wrote in his 113-page opinion, “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,” and, “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 such an important right,” Judge Pitman continued.

Attorney General Merrick Garland called the new law “unprecedented” when announcing the Justice Department’s lawsuit against the state of Texas:

“Today's ruling enjoining the Texas law is a victory for women in Texas and for the rule of law… It is the foremost responsibility of the Department of Justice to defend the Constitution … We will continue to protect constitutional rights against all who would seek to undermine them,” he said.

Only hours after Judge Pitman’s ruling, Texas filed an appeal with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most conservative benches in the nation. A decision from the bench could come in days.

S.B. 8, also called the “heartbeat bill,” took effect in August of this year. It bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — a time when many women don’t even know they’re pregnant. The bill also allows any Texas citizen, including complete strangers, to sue abortion providers or any other group that helps provide abortions. Those who help people seek abortions can be taken to court and even fined at least $10,000.

The bill has received nationwide backlash spanning from Democratic leaders to Texas-based companies who support a woman’s right to choose. President Biden called the new law “almost un-American” in September, when he asked the Department of Justice to look into the legality of the bill.Cloud computing company Salesforce also took a stand against the state’s restrictive law, offering to relocate any of its 56,000 employees who wanted to leave the state.

The law seems to have pushed people seeking abortions to look for proper care out of state rather than eliminating abortions entirely. Texas natives seeking abortion providers in Oklahoma have jumped 133%, according to Planned Parenthood. New Mexico providers have seen a 67% increase in patients coming from Texas.

Lawmakers in the U.S. have enacted more anti-abortions laws this year than any other year. State legislators have passed at least 90 anti-abortions laws in 2021, breaking the previous record of 89 restrictive abortion laws passed in 2011. The push for these anti-choice policies was prompted by a conservative shift made by Former Pres. Donald Trump in the Supreme Court.