In a laudable moment for pro-choice advocates, yesterday, the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas temporarily blocked the controversial Texas law S.B. 8, which prohibits abortion after just 6 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape, sexual abuse, incest, or fetal defect, and allows private citizens—unrelated to the patient—to sue for damages. In a 113-page ruling, the court granted the Department of Justice’s motion for a preliminary injunction (California joined in Amici Curiae), which was supported by declarations of providers who confirmed that viability is “medically impossible at 6 weeks [last menstrual period (“LMP”)] . . . .”1
The declarants also credibly described a host of personal reasons why people might obtain an abortion, including for medical, financial, and family planning concerns, as well as because their pregnancies are the result of rape, incest, or intimate partner violence. Others seek abortions after fetal abnormalities which would result in severe disabilities or death are diagnosed—which abnormalities cannot be diagnosed until significantly later than 6 weeks LMP.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman aptly noted that S.B. 8 is “meant to empower anti-abortion vigilantes and target those who support abortion care in Texas” and “designed to stymie judicial review.” He referenced Chief Justice Roberts’ dissent in Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, wherein he implicitly chastised Texas by stating that he “would grant preliminary relief to preserve the status quo ante—before the law went into effect—so that courts may consider whether a state can avoid responsibility for its laws in such a manner.”
Further, the court considered the fact that S.B. 8 poses an undue burden on abortion patients, including those who attempt to comply with the law. For example, one provider describes seeing a patient “who has been taking the same contraception consistently for a decade and nonetheless found herself pregnant. She was only 5.4 weeks LMP but had detectible cardiac activity, so I had to turn her away.”
"That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right."- Judge Pitman.
Lawyers Club applauds Judge Pitman’s decision and will continue to fight for reproductive justice. Please join us at the Advocacy & Reproductive Justice event on November 18, 2021.
