The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit brought against the Texas anti-abortion law that took effect last September. The ruling brings an end to a contentious legal battle that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case in December 2021.
“Another legal loss for those challenging SB8—the pro-life law that is saving babies every day,” said Governor Greg Abbott in a tweet.
Another legal loss for those challenging SB8—the pro-life law that is saving babies every day. https://t.co/dcpiZKuXV2
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 26, 2022
The lawsuit dismissed was initially filed by Whole Woman’s Health and other abortion providers in Texas, naming a handful of state officials as defendants. The suit was part of an effort to block the enforcement of Senate Bill 8, which bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
However, in March, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that state officials do not enforce the abortion ban and thus cannot be sued.
SB 8 allows private individuals to sue abortion providers or people who aid or abet an unlawful abortion. Successful litigants can win as much as $10,000.
Tuesday’s ruling by the Fifth Circuit officially dismisses the lawsuit.
“Having received the ruling of the Texas Supreme Court that named official defendants may not enforce the provisions of the Texas Heartbeat Act … this court REMANDS the case with instructions to dismiss all challenges to the private enforcement provisions of the statute and to consider whether plaintiffs have standing to challenge,” said the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in its ruling.
Data from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) showed a substantial drop in abortions after the Texas Heartbeat Act went into effect in September 2021. The state agency reported 2,197 abortions in Texas in September, compared to 5,404 abortions the month before, representing a 60% decrease in abortions.
Kim Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, praised the court ruling.
“The Fifth Circuit’s instruction to dismiss the challenge to the Texas Heartbeat Act’s enforcement mechanism confirms what Texas Right to Life has known since the beginning: the abortion industry’s legal attacks are meritless,” she told LifeNews on Tuesday.
The law is still facing several other legal challenges, including one from former Democratic State Senator Wendy Davis and several abortion funds.
“S.B. 8 seeks not only to strip Texans of their fundamental right to make decisions about their pregnancies, based on their individual circumstances and religious beliefs, but also to make a mockery of the federal courts,” she wrote in a legal challenge earlier this month.
Texas is in “brazen defiance of the rule of law,” argued Davis, and should “restore the ability of abortion funds and their associates to fully serve Texas abortion patients.”
Abortion providers are also claiming that the bill has forced many women to seek abortions outside of Texas.
According to UT’s Texas Policy Evaluation Project researchers, an average of 1,400 Texas women each month between September and December 2021 sought abortions at thirty-four facilities in neighboring states.
That average is nearly equal to the total number of Texan women who traveled to bordering states for abortions each year between 2017 and 2019.
However, Schwartz, with Texas Right to Life, believes the number of women leaving the state for abortions is exaggerated.
“Although some women may be traveling out of state to obtain abortion, those numbers are small and unconfirmed at this point,” she said.
The Fifth Circuit ruling comes as the Supreme Court is expected to decide in the following weeks or months regarding the legality of a law in Mississippi that bans abortion after 15 weeks. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch has submitted a court filing in the case asking the high court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, so the state can uphold its law.
