U.S. Appeals Court Strikes Down Texas Law Banning Common Abortion Method
On Tuesday night, Texan abortion rights advocates celebrated a new ruling from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that finally struck down State Bill 8, the Texas Legislature’s attempt to ban the most common form of abortion used after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“My immediate reaction to yesterday’s Fifth Circuit ruling was relief for my patients,” said Dr. Bhavik Kumar, an abortion care provider with Planned Parenthood Center for Choice in Houston. “As an abortion provider in Texas, I’m all too familiar with politically motivated laws like this one that are designed to restrict abortion until it’s completely out of reach.”
The procedure — dilation and evacuation, also called D&E — was the focus of SB8 which was passed by the state Legislature back in June of 2017. That law outlawed the D&E procedure in Texas, but a federal district court ruling in August of 2017 blocked the ban from being enacted just one day before it was set to go into effect in response to a lawsuit from abortion providers Whole Woman’s Health and Planned Parenthood.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton then filed an appeal with the Fifth Circuit, which put the case on hold for months as it awaited the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June Medical Services v. Russo, the case where the nation’s highest court overturned a law that would have closed most abortion providers in Louisiana.
Read more: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/federal-court-strikes-down-texas-abortion-restriction-11504541