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 Amy Hagstrom Miller, chief executive of Whole Woman's Health, told
reporters that since the law went into effect on Sept. 1, the
provider with four clinics in Texas had put patients on a waiting
list if their pregnancies had advanced beyond the legal limit.
"So those folks were able to come in and we did provide them with
abortion care today," Hagstrom Miller said during a call on with
reporters.
She did not say which clinics had resumed services or how many
abortions they had provided.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin on Wednesday blocked
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-blocks-enforcement-near-total-abortion-ban-texas-2021-10-07
the state from enforcing the law while litigation over its legality
continues. The Republican-backed measure empowers private citizens
to enforce the ban, and Texas immediately appealed the ruling to the
conservative-leaning Fifth Circuit Appeals Court.
The law has become a flashpoint in a national battle over abortion
rights as Republican lawmakers in other states try to pass similar
legislation https://www.reuters.com/world/us/judges-ruling-texas-abortion-ban-warning-copycats-now-2021-10-07.
In December, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a Mississippi case
testing Roe v. Wade, its landmark 1973 decision that established the
nationwide right to abortion access.
Drexel University law professor David Cohen said Texas clinics that
resume their previous abortion services while the law is blocked
will be in a "very precarious position." A clause in the law says
providers can still be sued if the law goes back into effect after
being struck down by a court.
Cohen said that even if Pitman's injunction against the law were
upheld by the Supreme Court on appeal, it could still be dissolved
by a subsequent decision overturning Roe v. Wade, because that
decision was the basis for Pitman's ruling.
Hagstrom Miller said the retroactive clause was concerning for many
medical professionals.
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"Any abortion you provide, even with an injunction, could be seen as
criminal a year from now, six months from now - and you could be
held accountable for every one of those. It's pretty daunting to
think about that," she said.
Anti-abortion advocates said that if Pitman's ruling is reversed on
appeal, they will sue providers who have resumed abortion services.
"As this case develops, if there's an opportunity for lawsuits or
for enforcement in the future, that's something that the pro-life
movement is very interested in," said John Seago, legislative
director for anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life.
Other Texas abortion providers acknowledged they were worried about
the state's vow to appeal the injunction to a conservative-leaning
appeals court.
"Given the state's appeal, our health centers may not have the days
or even weeks it could take to navigate new patients through Texas’s
onerous abortion restrictions," the leaders of Planned Parenthood
South Texas, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast and Planned Parenthood
Greater Texas said in a joint statement.
Molly Duane, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights,
which represents several Texas clinics fighting the law, said
abortion providers were in a difficult situation.
"There are independent providers across the state that are working
to reopen full services and are doing so wary of the fact that the
Fifth Circuit may take away this injunction at any moment," she
said.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and David Gregorio)
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