|
 State District Court Judge David Peeples was ruling on a contentious
Texas law that bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been
detected, usually after about six weeks and when many women do not
yet realize they are pregnant.
Abortion providers signaled that despite the ruling, they are
unlikely to resume the procedure until an expected ruling by the
U.S. Supreme Court. The law, which went into effect in September,
effectively bans nearly all abortions in Texas, America's second
most-populous state.
Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group that backed the law,
immediately filed an appeal against Thursday's ruling.
The law was designed to avoid normal means of legal challenge,
because rather than making state officials responsible for
enforcement, it instead gave private individuals anywhere the right
to sue doctors and others who provide abortions after six weeks in
Texas.
Peeples ruled that the law unconstitutionally gave legal standing to
people not injured, and was an "unlawful delegation of enforcement
power to a private person."
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 The U.S. Supreme Court heard
arguments about the Texas law last month and is
expected to issue a ruling in coming weeks.
The nation's highest court this month also heard
arguments about a restrictive Republican-backed
Mississippi law that is seen as a direct
challenge to the court's landmark 1973 Roe v.
Wade ruling that legalized the procedure
nationwide.
In oral arguments on Dec. 1, conservative
justices, who have a 6-3 majority on the court,
signaled a willingness to dramatically curtail
abortion rights in the United States. A ruling
on the Mississippi law is expected by the
summer.
(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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