AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Texas abortion providers can sue over the state's abortion ban. The justices also allowed the Texas Heartbeat Act to remain in effect.
KVUE's Jenni Lee spoke with Jason Whitely, WFAA senior reporter and host of Inside Texas Politics, about the high court's ruling.
Jenni Lee: We appreciate your time on this to help us break down this complicated ruling. First, your reaction to this?
Jason Whitely: "It is a complicated ruling. My reaction is, I've been trying to parse through this thing as, 'OK, but who won?' Well, the past hour or so, I've talked to both sides and both sides are claiming some victory here. You know, the abortion providers say, 'Hey, we're still in the game here. The Supreme Court said we can still continue to challenge this in court.' But the pro-life side is saying, 'Listen, the Supreme Court justices, they said that SB 8 remains the law of the land. They did not stay that law.' So, for now, abortion is essentially illegal after six weeks here in the state."
Lee: Having said that: So how significant, Jason, is this ruling?
Whitely: "Significant is an understatement, I would say. Everyone I'm speaking with on both sides is really saying that, that we're on the verge here of the landmark Roe vs. Wade 1973 decision being overturned. This is only a precursor to what likely is coming with the Mississippi case. For people who haven't seen that one or might not have watched that one, Mississippi enacted the law after Texas that essentially said you can't have abortions after 15 weeks. The Supreme Court just heard that case the other day, and a lot of people are thinking that one might end up being the law of the land. But we won't know what the justices decide on that until the end of their term, likely sometime early next summer."
Lee: So, does today's decision give any indication on how the Mississippi case could go, Jason?
Whitely: "I spoke to a few people, one at UT there in Austin, another one at UNT in Dallas, up here. These are legal experts, law professors, and both of them are saying – you know, with no dog in the fight here at all, just looking legally at this, looking at what justices are asking and the arguments on both sides – they are looking at this and saying that they think that the end of Roe vs. Wade could only be months away, probably. They don't want to go that far [to] say it, but they think that we are really on the verge of a major legal decision here by the Supreme Court, potentially overturning Roe vs. Wade after almost 50 years."
Lee: You kind of already answered this, but go ahead and finish that thought: What sort of signal does this ruling give to abortion supporters?
Whitely: "Abortion supporters say, 'Look, we originally sued the 254 county court clerks across the state. We're going to go down that avenue and sue them.' The Supreme Court justices today, and in that narrow ruling say, 'No, you can't sue the county court clerks, find someone else to sue,' essentially. So the abortion providers are now going back to the drawing board, looking at who they could potentially name as a defendant and then trying to try this case all over again and see how far it goes in the court system."
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