The US Supreme Court has overturned an appeals court decision that allowed Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s non-essential surgery ban back in March to include abortions.
In March, and then once again in April, a federal court issued emergency orders to stop Texas officials from including time-sensitive abortion services as part of Governor Abbott’s executive order. In April the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, siding with Abbott.
Abortion providers appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, however, the legal fight became moot when Abbott issued a new executive order allowing abortion providers to resume providing services. As such, the plaintiffs in this case never had a chance to ask the Supreme Court to correct what they believed was a mistake by the 5th Circuit.
The petition was filed as a procedural request to the Supreme Court to toss out the appellate court’s rulings so those decisions don’t impact plaintiffs further down the road.
A joint statement from Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Lawyering Project litigation teams on behalf of Texas abortion providers:
“Governor Greg Abbott’s harmful executive order banning abortion did nothing to prevent further spread of COVID-19. Instead, it was a transparent attempt to chip away at access to reproductive health care by exploiting a public health crisis. The executive order put Texans in need of essential, time-sensitive abortion care at greater risk: pushing patients to remain pregnant for political reasons, and forcing those able to do so to travel out of state during a pandemic just to access health care.
“It was important we took this procedural step to make sure bad case law was wiped from the books. We cannot allow Abbott’s extreme actions to taint future fights. For now, abortion providers are back to work, caring for patients who need access to this essential health care. Together, we will do everything we can to continue protecting access to abortion, no matter what.”