In a Supreme Court ruling dissent, Justice Sotomayor states that the Texas abortion law, which took effect over four months ago, has destroyed access to abortion in the Lone Star State, underscoring that the unprecedented law contradicts US constitutional rights afforded under Roe v. Wade for Texans seeking an abortion.
As activists, providers, and lawmakers are well aware, the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, S.B. 8, went into affect on September 1, 2021. Since former US President Donald Trump’s nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2017, the federal bench has held a conservative majority.
The Texas ban marks the first time a state has successfully forced a six-week abortion ban since the passing of Roe v. Wade, which guarantees rights to abortion before fetus viability which is usually around the 23-week pregancy state.
The S.B. 8 bans abortion care to individuals after six weeks from their last menstruation, before many are even aware that they are pregnant, makes no exception for rape or incest, and allows any person to sue an abortion care provider and collect a “bount” of $10,000.
The case was initially detoured to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday after the state’s abortion clinics appealed to have what little remained to their challenge against the S.B. 8, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act.
“The unresolved questions of state law must be certified to the Texas Supreme Court,” Judge Edith Jones ruled on Monday. Jones was first appointed to the Fifth Circuit Appeals court by former US President Ronald Reagan in 1985.
Judge Stephen Higginson, who was appointed to the Fifth Circuit Appeals court by former US President Barack Obama in 2011, dissented from his more conservative colleagues, writing, “This further, second-guessing redundancy, without time limit, deepens my concern that justice delayed is justice denied, here impeding relief ordered by the Supreme Court.”
With news breaking on Thursday that the Supreme Court decided to deny the abortion providers’ petition, Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, "The law immediately devastated access to abortion care in Texas through a complicated private bounty-hunter scheme that violates nearly 50 years of this Court’s precedents."
"This case is a disaster for the rule of law and a grave disservice to women in Texas, who have a right to control their own bodies,” she continued. “I will not stand by silently as a State continues to nullify this constitutional guarantee."
The news comes as a blow to those challenging the Texas ban, as well as lawmakers in nearby Mississippi also seek to outlaw any abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The developments have prompted concerns regarding the potential snags that could emerge against the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that legalized abortion.