Texas six-week abortion ban takes effect

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Sarah Harvey1 September 2021

A ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy took effect in Texas early Wednesday after the US Supreme Court did not act on an emergency request by abortion rights groups to block a law enabling the ban.

Abortion rights groups say as many as 90 per cent of abortions in Texas are obtained after six weeks of pregnancy, meaning the law would most likely force many clinics to close.

Such a ban has never been permitted in any state since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, in 1973, they said.

Planned Parenthood and other women's health providers, doctors, and clergy members challenged the law in federal court in Austin in July, contending it violated the constitutional right to an abortion.

The law, signed on May 19, is unusual in that it gives private citizens the power to enforce it by enabling them to sue abortion providers and anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion after six weeks. Citizens who win such lawsuits would be entitled to at least $10,000.

Abortion providers say the law could lead to hundreds of costly lawsuits that would be logistically difficult to defend.

In a legal filing, Texas officials told the justices to reject the abortion providers' request, saying that the law "may never be enforced against them by anyone."

A court could still put the ban on hold, and no court has yet ruled on its constitutionality, Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, said in a tweet.

"Despite what some will say, this isn't the 'end' of Roe," he said.

Texas is among of dozen mostly Republican-led states that have enacted "heartbeat" abortion bans, which outlaw the procedure once the rhythmic contracting of fetal cardiac tissue can be detected, often at six weeks - sometimes before a woman realises she is pregnant.

Courts have blocked such bans.

Additional reporting Reuters

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