The United States Supreme Court announced on Friday, October 22, that it would review the 1er November Texas anti-abortion law. Until then, this law will remain in force, the highest court in the country refusing to suspend the application of the text.
The administration of President Joe Biden had seized Monday the Supreme Court in order to block this law which prohibits abortion as soon as the heartbeat of the embryo is detectable, that is to say around six weeks of pregnancy, when most women are still unaware of being pregnant. The text does not provide for an exception in the event of incest or rape.
The United States Supreme Court has guaranteed since 1973 and the iconic Roe decision vs Wade the right of women to have an abortion, and then specified that it applied as long as the fetus is not viable, that is to say around 22 weeks of pregnancy. But the text of Texas has a unique device: it confides “Exclusively” it is up to citizens to ensure that the measure is respected by encouraging them to file a complaint against organizations or people who help women to have abortions.
Six out of nine Conservative judges
The Supreme Court, where the conservative judges have a majority, had already been seized for the first time and had therefore invoked these “New questions of procedure” to refuse, the 1er September, to block the entry into force of the law. The federal government then entered the legal arena, filing a lawsuit on its behalf against Texas.
The Supreme Court’s position in this case was seen as a ” right turn “ of the high court which has six conservative judges out of nine, including three appointed by Donald Trump. On October 2, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of America to defend the right to abortion.
On October 6, a trial judge suspended the law, pending a review on the merits. “This court will not allow this shocking deprivation of such an important right to continue one more day”, wrote federal judge Robert Pitman. Some clinics then resumed abortions beyond six weeks.
But Texas Attorney General Republican Ken Paxton appealed to New Orleans federal court, known to be one of the most conservative in the country, which ruled in her favor: two days later, she overturned Justice Pitman’s decision.