Federal appeals court blocks most abortions, allows few to proceed in TX amid coronavirus
In the back-and-forth rulings over whether Texas can maintain its ban on most abortions amid the novel coronavirus’ spread, a federal appeals court ruled Friday that only a narrow set of abortion procedures may continue.
A panel of judges at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals based in New Orleans once again ruled in favor of Texas, granting a stay that reversed, in part, a federal judge’s ruling that had been issued just a day before in Austin.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling states that abortions will only be permitted for patients who would be unable to access services during Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on elective medical procedures due to limits on gestational age.
In Texas, abortions are banned in cases where the woman is 22 weeks past her last menstrual period. Under the appeals-court ruling then, abortions will be permitted only for patients who would have reached that limit before Abbott’s order expires on April 22.
U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel in Austin had issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday, granting abortion providers’ narrower request to also allow medical abortions, that are often induced by ingesting pills, in addition to abortion procedures for patients facing the limits on gestational age.
Attorney General Ken Paxton submitted an appeal of Yeakel’s ruling on Friday, and vowed to defend Abbott’s executive order “to ensure that hardworking medical professionals receive the supplies and personal protective gear they need to successfully combat this health crisis.”
Friday’s ruling is the latest in the legal saga over Texas’ ban, that arose out of Abbott’s March 22 executive order that directed healthcare providers to postpone surgeries and procedures that aren’t medically necessary to correct a serious medical condition or to preserve the life of a patient.
Abbott said the order was intended to increase hospital capacity to combat the novel coronavirus’ spread, and Paxton clarified that abortion providers were not exempt from the order, and said that only abortion procedures essential for the mother’s health would be permitted.
While anti-abortion groups celebrated Paxton’s interpretation, abortion providers quickly followed two days later with a federal lawsuit against Texas officials in an effort to stop the state’s ban.
In the wake of Abbott’s executive order, abortion providers have canceled hundreds of procedures, and some Texans have reported traveling outside state lines in order to obtain abortions.
“This is a nightmare inside of a nightmare,“ Alexis McGill Johnson, the acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America said in a statement Friday night. “One day patients are called back for their procedures, the next day they are canceled — all at the whim of Gov. Abbott. Abortion is essential because it is time-sensitive. It cannot wait for lengthy legal battles or a pandemic to pass.”
The legal battle is far from over. Abortion providers vowed Friday to continue pursuing additional legal avenues, including emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The court is unjustifiably forcing women to wait until the eleventh hour to get the time-sensitive, essential healthcare that they are constitutionally guaranteed,” Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights — one of the plaintiffs in the case — said in a statement on Friday night. “We will pursue all legal options to ensure no women are left behind.”
Other states that have passed similar restrictions on elective medical procedures have run into the same question. Officials in states such as Washington and Massachusetts clarified that under their orders, abortions can continue as planned, while states such as Ohio and Alabama ran into legal challenges with respect to their bans.
