WASHINGTON – A Texas law that is considered the most restrictive in the nation banning abortion procedures after six weeks of pregnancy- a period when many women are unaware that they are pregnant, went into effect after midnight when the U.S. Supreme Court failed to step in and issue an injunction halting it from taking effect.

Attorneys for Texas abortion providers had filed a last-minute emergency plea to the Supreme Court on Monday, after the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Sunday had denied a request to block the law and then canceled a hearing scheduled for Monday in Austin, Texas before a U.S. District Court, where at least 20 abortion providers had hoped to testify against the law.

The Washington Post reported that lawyers for abortion providers told the Supreme Court that the statute, known as Texas Senate Bill 8, would “immediately and catastrophically reduce abortion access” in Texas and probably force more clinics to close. The law is unconstitutional, they say, because it conflicts with the court precedents that prevent states from banning abortion before a fetus would be viable outside the womb, usually around 22 to 24 weeks.

In addition to preventing abortions after detection of an unborn child’s heartbeat; the bill further authorizes a ‘private civil right of action,’ that would allow members of the general public to sue those who might have violated the restrictions, which providers call a bounty hunting scheme, the Texas Tribune noted.

Individuals who are sued under the ban could be required to pay the person who brought the lawsuit at least $10,000 for each abortion the defendant was involved in the Post noted.

“In less than two days, Texas politicians will have effectively overturned Roe v. Wade,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement Monday. “We have filed an emergency motion in the Supreme Court to block this law before clinics are forced to turn patients away. Patients will have to travel out of state – in the middle of a pandemic – to receive constitutionally guaranteed healthcare. And many will not have the means to do so. It’s cruel, unconscionable, and unlawful.”

The High Court could still grant a request from abortion providers to halt the law. The law effectively eliminates the guarantee in Roe v. Wade and subsequent Supreme Court decisions that women have a right to end their pregnancies before viability, abortion providers said, and that states may not impose undue burdens on that decision, according to the Post.

It’s 12:01 CDT here in Texas. #SCOTUS has not acted.

That means #SB8 — the most restrictive abortion law since Roe — is now in effect, and that virtually *all* abortions in Texas after the sixth week of pregnancy (when many women do not even *know* they’re pregnant) are illegal.

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) September 1, 2021

“The harm this law will cause will be insurmountable for far too many Texans, particularly Black, Latino, Indigenous people, those with low incomes, and Texans in rural areas who already face significant barriers to care,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America said in a statement. “We are asking the Supreme Court to uphold fifty years of precedent and ensure Texans won’t be denied their constitutional right to abortion.”

The White House issued a statement by President Joe Biden Wednesday;

“Today, Texas law SB8 went into effect. This extreme Texas law blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century.
 
The Texas law will significantly impair women’s access to the health care they need, particularly for communities of color and individuals with low incomes. And, outrageously, it deputizes private citizens to bring lawsuits against anyone who they believe has helped another person get an abortion, which might even include family members, health care workers, front desk staff at a health care clinic, or strangers with no connection to the individual.
 
My administration is deeply committed to the constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade nearly five decades ago and will protect and defend that right.” 

In a brief filed on July 30 by 12 Republican Governors, that was joined by 228 Republican members of the U.S. House in a separate brief, all asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 ruling of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, which protects women’s reproductive rights to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.

This most recent push by Republicans comes as the high court is set to hear Mississippi’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, based on the Mississippi law that bars most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. There are no provisions for rape or incest either. 

The Governors from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas and South Carolina signed the brief.

The arguments made are chilling and pose a direct threat to the many members of the LGBTQ community who have a vital interest in reproductive freedom and choice.  Substantial research has documented that lesbian youth, in particular, are at high risk of unwanted pregnancy due to sexual coercion and attempts to hide their sexual orientation,” Shannon Minter, the Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), told the Blade on July 30.

“And more broadly, the same groups and officials who are attempting to turn back the clock on women’s freedom are also seeking to roll back equality for our communities. Every LGBTQ person in this country has a stake in this case and in the ongoing battle for the fundamental right to make personal decisions free of government intrusion and control,” he added. 

An openly gay member of the U.S. House, Congressman Mondaire Jones, (D NY-17) who is an attorney and social justice activist tweeted about the SCOTUS lack of action:

By refusing to take action before the clock struck midnight, the far-right Supreme Court effectively overturned Roe v. Wade.

This isn’t hypothetical – our fundamental rights are being snatched away from under us. We must #ExpandTheCourt.

— Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) September 1, 2021

California Governor Newsom weighed in also issuing a statement Wednesday:

“I am outraged that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed Texas’ ban on most abortions to take effect. Silently, in the dead of night, the Supreme Court has eviscerated the fundamental protection of a woman’s right to choose that Roe v. Wade has protected for the last 50 years. In California, we will ensure that women continue to have access to critical health care services, including abortion, and California will continue to lead the nation in expanding access to reproductive and sexual health care. And I will continue to appoint judges and justices who will faithfully follow the Constitution and precedent to uphold people’s rights, unlike this disappointing inaction from the high court.”