Planned Parenthood and other abortion care providers in Texas won a temporary restraining order Friday against Texas Right to Life, barring them from suing health care workers under the state’s near-total abortion restriction that took effect this week.
Texas District Court judge Maya Gamble granted Planned Parenthood's request, ruling the six-week abortion prohibition amounts to "probable, irreparable, and imminent injury in the interim" for abortion providers across the Lone Star State.
Providers argued against the law's questionable enforcement through any private citizen who wishes to sue an alleged abortion provider. Senate Bill 8 also incentivizes plaintiffs who file lawsuits by offering them $10,000 of taxpayer dollars per reported abortion.
Anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life launched an online "whistleblower" page for people to anonymously report doctors or clinics that may have helped women obtain an abortion. Hundreds of people flooded the site with fake reports this week.
Website hoster GoDaddy deactivated the site Friday and told the group it had 24 hours to find a new provider because the site violated its terms of service regarding personal privacy. When accessing the tool Friday afternoon, GoDaddy greeted visitors with an alert about the blocked page.
Planned Parenthood's complaint Thursday similarly alleged the law violates the Texas Constitution’s guarantee of citizens' right to privacy.
In a 5-to-4 decision Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the law and determine its constitutionality. The high court said legal actions in lower districts should proceed to assess Senate Bill 8's merit.
"At every turn, S.B. 8 purports to replace normal civil-litigation rules and clearly established constitutional rules with distorted versions designed to maximize the harassing nature of the lawsuits and to make them impossible to fairly defend against," attorneys wrote in the complaint.
Opponents have filed nearly a dozen lawsuits in Texas state courts targeting the new law. Other abortion providers have already won several restraining orders in other counties. Texas Right to Life said it would appeal all decisions until it reaches "a court that takes this law seriously," according to Bloomberg Law.
President Joe Biden called the new law "un-American" and has vowed to fight it.
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