Judge Denies Justice Department Bid To Expedite Texas Abortion Law Challenge
The Justice Department's motion for the restrictive law to be temporarily suspended while the case is litigated will be heard as scheduled on Oct. 1, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman decided.
Bloomberg:
Texas Judge Rejects U.S. Bid For Earlier Hearing On Abortion Law
A federal judge in Texas denied a U.S. Justice Department request to move up a hearing on whether the state’s restrictive new abortion law should be put on hold while the government challenges the ban in a lawsuit. The Biden administration had argued that an Oct. 1 hearing on its motion for a temporary restraining order against the law should be moved to Sept. 21 because women are already being put at risk. But U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin denied the request Thursday. (Larson, 9/16)
USA Today:
Biden Sues Texas Over Abortion Ban. Will It Go Back To Supreme Court?
The Biden administration’s attempt to block temporarily Texas’ ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy will almost certainly put the contentious law back before the Supreme Court – possibly in a matter of weeks, legal experts said. What happens at that point is anybody’s guess. The Justice Department asked a federal judge in Austin Tuesday to block the ban, which became the most restrictive abortion law in the nation after the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect this month while the district court hears the federal government's challenge to the law. (Fritze, 9/16)
In other news about Texas' abortion law —
AP:
Some Abortion Foes Question Tactical Wisdom Of New Texas Ban
The new Texas law that bans most abortions in the state has been welcomed by many of the religious leaders who help bolster the anti-abortion movement. Yet some abortion opponents in U.S. religious circles are wary of the law and questioning the movement’s current direction. The wariness relates in part to the law’s most novel feature, which some critics view as an invitation to vigilantes: It provides no enforcement role for public officials and instead authorizes private citizens to sue anyone they deem to be assisting in an abortion, with the prospect of gaining $10,000 in the process. (Crary, 9/15)
Business Insider:
Texas Anti-Abortion Tip Site Raises Alarm Bells For Cybersecurity Experts
A website built to report on people seeking abortions in Texas may put their and their health providers' personal data and physical safety at risk, cybersecurity experts and abortion rights advocates say. Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion advocacy group, created a website that solicits anonymous tips about people getting abortions. Under the state's new law restricting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, private citizens can enforce the law by suing the doctor performing an abortion, the person who drove someone seeking an abortion to a clinic, or anyone else who "aids and abets" an abortion. (Hall and Beckler, 9/16)
The Washington Post:
Mark Lee Dickson Paved The Way For The Texas Abortion Ban, One Small Town At A Time
Over the last two years, Dickson has lobbied towns and cities to ban abortion within their limits. Nearly 40 have. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 9/15)
In other news about abortion —
AP:
McAuliffe, Youngkin Clash Over Abortion, COVID In 1st Debate
Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin clashed over abortion and vaccination policies Thursday in Virginia’s first gubernatorial debate of the general election season, as each sought to cast the other as extreme. The candidates in the closely watched race met at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, a small town in southwest Virginia, where the debate got off to a relatively heated start, with cross-talk and occasional snide remarks. (Rankin and Helber, 9/17)
WMUR:
New Hampshire Executive Council Strips Funding From Abortion Providers
Abortion providers in New Hampshire are being stripped of public funding in a move that critics say will hurt health care for Granite Staters. The Executive Council voted Wednesday against family planning contracts for Planned Parenthood, the Lovering Center on the Seacoast and the Equality Health Center in Concord. The Republican majority on the Executive Council cited a new state law that requires physical and financial separation of abortion and family planning services at facilities that receive taxpayer dollars. (Sexton, 9/15)
The Daily Beast:
Facebook Is Raking It In With Anti-Abortion Ads From Live Action
Rebekah Hagan was a college freshman when she discovered she was pregnant with her second child. In a vulnerable moment, swayed by pressure from the “abortion industry,” she obtained a medication abortion—a two-pill process that can successfully terminate most pregnancies before 10 weeks. She immediately regretted it. Luckily for Hagan, there was a revolutionary new procedure that could stop the effects of medication abortion in its tracks and save the life of a growing fetus. And it could be obtained by calling a single hotline. At least, that’s what dozens of ads on Facebook would like you to think. Hagan is one of the faces of a $100,000-plus ad campaign run by anti-abortion organization Live Action, which advertises so-called “abortion reversal” as an effective means of reversing a medication abortion. (Shugerman, 9/15)
The Hill:
Man Charged In Fatal Planned Parenthood Shooting Ruled Incompetent To Stand Federal Trial
A Colorado man charged in the 2015 deadly shooting of a Planned Parenthood clinic has been ruled incompetent to stand federal trial.U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ruled on Thursday that Robert Dear is “suffering from a mental disease or defect” rendering him not competent to proceed with the trial. ... Prosecutors said that Dear fired 198 bullets during the attack, which resulted in six deaths and eight injuries. (Williams, 9/16)