AUSTIN, Texas — On Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court got a chance to weigh in on the Texas Heartbeat Act, the state's near-total ban on abortions. The court heard arguments in a narrow challenge to the restrictions.
According to a report by The Texas Tribune, Thursday's hearing is an interim step in the ongoing federal lawsuit brought by abortion providers trying to challenge the law, which was passed last year. The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of appeals asked the state's Supreme Court to weigh in on a question of state law before the appeals court proceeds with its own ruling.
The Tribune reports that the law is designed to evade judicial review by specifically precluding state officials from enforcing it. It is instead enforced by private citizens, who may bring civil lawsuits against anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected. That usually happens around six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
The lawyers for the abortion providers are attempting to prove that the state itself will actually enforce the law because the law is enforced by court clerks who docket the lawsuits, judges who hear them, the attorney general and others. If their argument is a success, it would "open a legal window for them to seek an injection on some aspects of the law," according to the Tribune.
In its December ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out most of those arguments and allowed the law to remain in effect. The justices did allow one question to proceed: whether state medical licensing officials play a role in enforcing the law.
According to the Tribune's report, those agencies would potentially be responsible for disciplining or revoking the licenses of medical professionals who violate the law, and an injunction would stop them from doing so while leaving the crux of the law in place.
The Texas Supreme Court justices on Thursday questioned whether doctors might be required by the rules of Texas' medical licensing board to report any lawsuits brought against them for violating the abortion law and whether that would be considered state enforcement. The Texas Solicitor General said the board could simply make a rule saying it had no role in enforcement.
That argument would present a problem for the abortion providers' challenge, the Tribune reports.
Their current argument is that the state's enforcement authority, through medical licensing officials, contributes to the chilling effect on abortion providers – but if the Texas Supreme Court decides that medical licensing officials don't have enforcement authority, or the board changes its rules to confirm that, the chilling effect would be lifted.
"Without state enforcement, there is no one to bring a constitutional challenge against, and the law would remain in effect," the Tribune reports.
The state Supreme Court has not said when it will issue its ruling.
To learn more about Thursday's proceedings, read the Tribune's full report.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: