New Texas abortion law a triumph for pro-lifers, a blow to pro-choice advocates
AP
By Denise Richards // EEW Magazine Online // Women’s Rights
A divided Supreme Court has voted to allow a Texas law that prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity—usually around six weeks— to remain in force, stripping most women of the right to an abortion in the nation’s second-largest state.
Outraged pro-choice liberals are openly blasting and lamenting the new restrictive policy, while ecstatic conservative pro-lifers are lauding the ruling as a triumph.
It is the strictest law against abortion rights in the United States since the high court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. At least 12 other states have enacted bans early in pregnancy, but all have been blocked from going into effect.
For those who believe that all life is sacred, and the child in the womb must be protected, this latest development marks a moment of great progress in the fight against abortion. For activists and advocates of a woman’s right to choose this is a sad moment in history.
In a statement early Thursday after the high court’s action, Nancy Northup, the head of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents abortion providers challenging the law, vowed to “keep fighting this ban until abortion access is restored in Texas.”
“We are devastated that the Supreme Court has refused to block a law that blatantly violates Roe v. Wade. Right now, people seeking abortion across Texas are panicking — they have no idea where or when they will be able to get an abortion, if ever. Texas politicians have succeeded for the moment in making a mockery of the rule of law, upending abortion care in Texas, and forcing patients to leave the state — if they have the means — to get constitutionally protected healthcare. This should send chills down the spine of everyone in this country who cares about the constitution,” she said.
A “Bans Off Our Bodies” protest at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Wednesday.Credit...Montinique Monroe for The New York Times
Pro-Life Action League executive director Eric Scheidler praised the high court’s decision in a statement, acknowledging what he calls a “creative new policy that recognizes the child in the womb as a member of the human family and protects her from the violence of abortion.” Scheidler added, “We encourage the other 49 states to catch up with Texas and continue this historic expansion of human rights.”
Liberals’ and conservatives’ opposing sentiments underscore the polarizing nature of the Texas abortion ban since the court voted 5-4 to deny an emergency appeal from abortion providers and others that sought to block enforcement of the law that went into effect Wednesday. The Texas law was signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May.
It is clear that the death of the liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last year and then-president Donald Trump’s replacement of her with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett paved the way for this ruling to stand. Had Ginsburg remained on the court there would have been five votes to halt the Texas law.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor called her conservative colleagues’ decision “stunning” and “flagrantly unconstitutional.”
Texas has long had some of the nation’s toughest abortion restrictions, including a sweeping law passed in 2013. The Supreme Court eventually struck down that law, but not before more than half of the state’s 40-plus clinics closed.
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Associated Press writer Paul J. Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.
