Federal Judge Issues Order Blocking Texas Abortion Ban

Yesterday, a federal judge in Texas issued an order to block the state’s six-week abortion ban. In his decision, US District Judge Robert Pitman said “from the moment S.B.8  went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the constitution,” and added “that other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.”

The lawsuit was brought by the Justice Department against the state. Pitman’s order blocks any officer of the state including court judges and court clerks from enforcing the ban and explicitly prohibits those officers from “accepting or docketing, maintaining, hearing, resolving, awarding damages in, enforcing judgments in, enforcing any administrative penalties in, and administering any lawsuit” under the state law. The judge also ordered the state to take proactive steps to inform court officials and individuals seeking to enforce the ban that the law is currently blocked in his order.