Pro-Life Win: Federal Court Upholds Temporary Ban on Abortions as 'Not Medically Necessary'
Texas pro-lifers scored a massive victory on Tuesday.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order March 22 to halt all “surgeries and procedures that are not medically necessary,” including abortions.
After a district court blocked enforcement of the order, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay on the ruling, allowing the ban to go into effect.
The district court had ruled that the “attorney general’s interpretation of the Executive Order prevents Texas women from exercising what the Supreme Court has declared is their fundamental constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus is viable.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an appeal, and a panel of three appellate judges overturned the district court’s decision.
“IT IS ORDERED that the district court’s order of March 30, 2020 (Dkt. No. 40) is TEMPORARILY STAYED until further order of this court to allow this court sufficient time to consider petitioners’ emergency motion for stay and petition for writ of mandamus,” the federal judges said in their ruling.
Abbott’s ban on nonessential medical procedures is meant to ensure that enough hospital resources remain available for the inevitable influx of COVID-19 patients.
Paxton had criticized abortion providers for failing to abide by the governor’s order in a tweet prior to the ruling.
“Abortion providers who refuse to follow state law are demonstrating a clear disregard for Texans suffering from this medical crisis,” he wrote.
“For years, abortion has been touted as a ‘choice’ by the same groups now attempting to claim it is an essential procedure.”
Abortion providers who refuse to follow state law are demonstrating a clear disregard for Texans suffering from this medical crisis. For years, abortion has been touted as a ‘choice’ by the same groups now attempting to claim it is an essential procedure.https://t.co/Q0WFl2U3Rl
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) March 31, 2020
Upon learning of the federal court’s ruling, Paxton added a triumphant declaration to his tweet.
“UPDATE: Victory at 5th Circuit – Abortion ruling stayed!” Paxton wrote.
UPDATE: Victory at 5th Circuit – Abortion ruling stayed! https://t.co/vmpyXsje0B
— Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) March 31, 2020
While the order is upheld for now, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers and advocates are working hard to overturn it.
“Abortion care is time-sensitive and essential health care that has a profound impact on a person’s health and life, which is why it is protected as a constitutional right,” Nancy Northup, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Reproductive Rights, told CBS News.
If they are successful, ending the lives of unborn children and saving the lives of COVID-19 patients will again be treated as equally “essential.”
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