CV NEWS FEED // The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected the Biden administration’s latest attempt to suspend a pro-life law in Texas which bans most abortions in the Lone Star State.
The federal court’s decision comes just over a week after U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman managed to briefly suspend enforcement of the law. As CatholicVote reported,
Judge Robert Pitman, an Obama appointee, raised eyebrows with his ruling, in which he used strong language to express his displeasure with the law.
The Biden administration used similarly adamant language … when it requested that Pitman make this ruling….
Together with leading abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood, the Biden administration has worked to thwart the pro-life law since before it went into effect. The U.S. Supreme Court declined emergency requests for the law to be suspended pending litigation, and allowed Texas to begin enforcing the legislation on Sept. 1.
As Politico reported Thursday, however, this week’s court decision brings the Biden administration and private abortion advocates back to square one.
“The new decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals … marks the third time since October that the conservative-leaning appeals court has sided with Texas and let the restrictions stand,” Politico explained:
It leaves the Justice Department and Texas abortion providers with a narrowing path to try stopping the law….
Despite numerous legal challenges both before and after the law took effect Sept. 1, only once has a court moved to put the restriction on hold — and that order only stood for 48 hours.
“During that brief window,” Politico reported, “some Texas clinics rushed to perform abortions on patients past six weeks….” At this point: “The Biden administration could now seek a rehearing or go straight to the Supreme Court, just as abortion providers unsuccessfully tried in August.”
Texas officials — proponents of the law — have decried the frenzy of efforts by abortion groups and the White House to shut down the law. The same officials, however, have encouraged opponents of the legislation to make their case to the Supreme Court.
The nation’s highest court is seen by many to be more amenable to the pro-life movement than ever since the Roe v. Wade ruling first legalized abortion in all 50 states in 1973. The Court compounded that impression when it allowed Texas’ abortion ban to go into effect in September.
In addition, the Court is slated to begin hearing in December a case which many speculate could redefine the landscape of abortion legislation. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health comes with a brief from Mississippi’s Attorney General urging the Supreme Court to repeal Roe v. Wade and return the issue of abortion to the states.
A majority of the justices of the Supreme Court, including the three confirmed under former President Donald Trump, are considered to be pro-life. Justice Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, has openly called for the repeal of Roe v. Wade.
