Supreme Court Allows Challenge to Texas Abortion Law but Leaves It in Effect
The New York Times
The law, which bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, was drafted to evade review in federal court and has been in effect since September.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that abortion providers in Texas can challenge a state law banning most abortions after six weeks, allowing them to sue at least some state officials in federal court despite the procedural hurdles imposed by the law’s unusual structure.
But the Supreme Court refused to block the law in the meantime, saying that lower courts should consider the matter.
The development was both a minor victory for supporters of abortion rights and a major disappointment to them. They had hoped that the justices would reverse course from a Sept. 1 ruling that had allowed the law, the nation’s most restrictive, to go into effect, causing clinics in Texas to curtail performing the procedure and forcing many women seeking abortions to travel out of state.
