US: Texas abortion ban to go ahead after SCOTUS gives way

The one-page ruling issued under the court’s controversial “shadow docket” process has sparked fears that Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling which protects the right to abortion, could be overturned.

An emergency petition was brought to the court by Texas abortion clinics but was rejected by 5-4. The outcome augurs poorly for a further Supreme Court case on Mississippi’s 15-week ban later this year.

The Texas law, known as SB 8, aims to circumvent Roe by allowing private individuals to enforce the ban through lawsuits, rather than having state officials do so.

In a blog post, Adriana Piñon, policy counsel and senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Texas, explained: “SB 8 authorises any person anywhere to sue a person who performed, aided and abetted, or intended to aid and abet an abortion in violation of the ban.

“That means that anyone — even someone unconnected to the person having the abortion — can try to dismantle abortion support networks by suing abortion providers and those who assist them, or even sue to try to stop the abortion and prevent the health care centre from providing abortion care after approximately six weeks.

“The law also authorizes a significant bounty: a minimum of $10,000 in damages paid to the person who brought the lawsuit, if they are successful.”

Tarah Demant, Amnesty International USA’s gender, sexuality and identity programme director, said: “This ban will have dire consequences; it endangers pregnant people’s lives and criminalises healthcare providers for providing vital care – it must be condemned unequivocally for undoing decades of safeguards for the well-being of pregnant people.

“The only person who should ever make decisions about a pregnancy is the pregnant person. Yet this ban violently strips away people’s decision to do so even before most realise that they are pregnant. What is at stake with this law and those like it is the human right of people to control their own bodies.

“Amnesty International USA strongly condemns the bill and calls on the government to protect the rights of pregnant people, including the right to abortion.”