Abortion in Texas: US Supreme Court leaves very restrictive law in force – archyworldys

United States Supreme Court offered major victory to abortion opponents on Wednesday night 1^er to Thursday, September 2, by refusing to suspend a Texas law that prohibits abortion after six weeks of pregnancy even in cases of rape or incest.

The high court, very divided with four of its nine judges opposed to the decision, does not rule on the constitutionality of the law, which entered into force twenty-four hours earlier, but invokes “Complex and new procedural issues”.

Texas becomes one of the most restrictive states when it comes to abortion. The legislation thus prohibits any termination of pregnancy as soon as the fetal heartbeat is noticeable, ie from about the sixth week of pregnancy. At this stage, many women are still unaware that they are pregnant.

Legislation hitherto invalidated in court

This law, signed in May by the governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, therefore makes the vast majority of abortions illegal – even in cases of incest or rape – in this conservative southern state where, according to planning organizations family, more than 85% of women abort after six weeks of pregnancy.

Several organizations defending the right of women to abortion had urgently seized Monday the Supreme Court to ask it to block the entry into force of the text or to oblige the federal courts to do it. Their appeal was rejected.

Before Texas, twelve states passed laws to ban abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is noticeable. These laws have all been invalidated in court, due to the fact that they violate the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, which has recognized a right to abortion as long as the fetus is not viable, i.e. up to twenty-two and twenty-four weeks of pregnancy.