Law restores ban on most abortions

A very controversial text. He had been blocked two days ago. But the law banning the majority of abortions in Texas was just restored Friday by a federal court of appeals. Ultra-restrictive, this law, which came into force on September 1, prohibits abortion once the embryo’s heartbeat is detected, at around six weeks of pregnancy, when most women are still unaware of being pregnant.

It had been temporarily blocked Wednesday by a federal judge in Texas, Robert Pitman, following a complaint from the government of Joe Biden. “This court will not allow this shocking deprivation of such an important right to continue one more day,” the judge wrote in his decision. Abortions beyond six weeks then resumed in state clinics.

The law does not provide for an exception in cases of rape or incest.

Abortions beyond six weeks suspended statewide

Texas Attorney General, Republican Ken Paxton, appealed to New Orleans Federal Court, considered one of the most conservative in the country, which ruled in his favor. “Big news tonight,” he tweeted as soon as the appeal decision was made public. “I will fight the excesses of the federal government at every turn,” he added.

The organization Planned Parenthood reacted immediately, saying the ruling “once again ignores half a century of precedent protecting the constitutional right to abortion.” As a result of the ruling, the organization also announced that it is currently suspending abortions at more than six weeks.

In all likelihood, the US federal government will challenge the decision of the Court of Appeals to the US Supreme Court. The latter guaranteed in 1973, in its emblematic judgment Roe v. Wade, the right of women to abort, and then specified that it applied as long as the fetus is not viable, that is to say around 22 weeks of pregnancy. In recent years, laws comparable to that of Texas have been passed by a dozen other conservative states and struck down in court for violating this jurisprudence.

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