Judge orders Texas to suspend new law banning most abortions

A federal judge has ordered Texas to suspend a new law that has banned most abortions in the state since September

AUSTIN, Texas -- A federal judge ordered Texas to suspend the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S., calling it an “offensive deprivation" of a constitutional right by banning most abortions in the nation's second-most populous state since September.

The order Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman is the first legal blow to the Texas law known as Senate Bill 8, which until now had withstood a wave of early challenges. In the weeks since the restrictions took effect, Texas abortion providers say the impact has been “exactly what we feared.”

But abortion services in Texas might not instantly resume even with the law on hold because doctors still fear they could be sued without a more permanent legal decision. Texas officials swiftly told the court of their intention to seek a reversal from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously allowed the restrictions to take effect. Planned Parenthood said it was hopeful the order would allow clinics to resume abortion services as soon as possible.

In a 113-page opinion, Pitman took Texas to task over the law, saying Republican lawmakers had “contrived an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme” by leaving enforcement solely in the hands of private citizens, who are entitled to collect $10,000 in damages if they bring successful lawsuits against abortion providers who violate the restrictions.