The Supreme Court once again refused to immediately block the Texas abortion law Friday.
The justices agreed to speed up their consideration of appeals from the Justice Department and abortion providers, scheduling arguments for November 1, the New York Times reports.
Only one justice filed a dissent: Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
“For the second time, the court is presented with an application to enjoin a statute enacted in open disregard of the constitutional rights of women seeking abortion care in Texas,” she wrote. “For the second time, the court declines to act immediately to protect these women from grave and irreparable harm.”
She added that she welcomed the court’s decision to hear arguments in the two cases, which will be limited to procedural question of whether the law is subject to review in federal court.
The court said it would decide this question in the federal government’s appeal: “May the United States bring suit in federal court and obtain injunctive or declaratory relief against the state, state court judges, state court clerks, other state officials or all private parties to prohibit [Senate Bill 8] from being enforced?”
As previously reported by Human Events News, the new law, one that has become the country’s biggest roadblock to abortion in nearly 50 years, says that a physician is prohibited from knowingly performing an abortion if there is a “detectable fetal heartbeat.”
It relies on citizens to file legal claims against abortion providers or anyone believed to perform or assist with an abortion.
