'Offensive deprivation of an important right': Federal judge temporarily blocks Texas abortion ban
06 October 2021
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking a Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, insisting the restraining order is necessary to "prevent irreparable harm to the United States' interest in protecting the constitutional rights of its citizens."
"From the moment [Senate Bill] 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising
control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution ... This Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right," the order reads.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, Pitman's order was issued in a federal lawsuit filed by the U.S Department of Justice against the state of Texas seeking both an injunction and "a permanent order that the Texas ban is invalid and unenforceable."
In his order, Judge Pitman accused Texas of contriving "an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme" to deprive people of their "right under the Constitution to choose to obtain an abortion prior to fetal viability."
Per the Journal's Brent Kendall:
"Judge Pitman chose not to delay the effective date of his injunction to give Texas time to seek an immediate stay from an appeals court, meaning state abortion providers have at least a short time window to resume offering abortions to a broad range of patients if they choose to do so."