Texas Right to Life temporarily barred from enforcing 6-week abortion ban against Planned Parenthood

A county judge awarded Planned Parenthood a small victory in its battle over Texas' six-week abortion ban by granting a temporary restraining order against Texas Right to Life on Friday. Under the order, the anti-abortion rights group is banned from "instituting private-enforcement lawsuits" against the pro-abortion rights organization, as well as its doctors and staff.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed the state's so-called heartbeat act into law in May, and it went into effect on Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop it. Under the legislation, abortions cannot be performed past six weeks, and residents of the state can sue clinics, doctors, nurses and even people who drive a woman to get the procedure for at least $10,000. The Travis County judge found that the new law, officially titled Senate Bill 8, "creates a probable, irreparable, and imminent injury" to Planned Parenthood while, on the other hand, Texas Right to Life would not be harmed if it was restrained from enforcing the law.