JUST IN: Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Texas Abortion Law

Photo by Sergio Flores/Getty Images.

A federal appeals court has issued a ruling temporarily reinstating Texas’ abortion law, reversing a decision from a lower court on Wednesday that temporarily blocked it.

The law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, around the sixth week of pregnancy, and includes a unique enforcement mechanism, allowing private citizens to sue medical providers and any other person who facilities an abortion for $10,000. The law includes no exceptions for rape or incest.

The previous ruling from U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, declared the law “an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme;” noting that Texas was “[f]ully aware that depriving its citizens of this right [to an abortion] by direct state action would be flagrantly unconstitutional.”

Pitman’s order included an injunction temporarily barring the law from being enforced, leading some abortion providers in Texas to resume services on Thursday.

Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) immediately appealed, and on Friday evening, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, granted Texas’ appeal.

According to a report by the AP, the Fifth Circuit set aside Pitman’s order while the case was reviewed, allowing the law’s restrictions to resume, and demanded that the Department of Justice file their response by Tuesday.

This is a breaking story and may be updated.

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