The Supreme Court of the United States denied abortion advocates’ bid to block the Texas pro-life bill from going into effect on Wednesday evening.
Pro-choice advocates filed an emergency appeal last week to grant an injunction in hopes of stalling enforcement of the sweeping pro-life law.
Senate Bill 8, signed by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May, bans abortions once the unborn baby’s heartbeat can be detected, which is around six weeks gestation. The law, which is the first statewide abortion ban according to advocacy group Live Action, aims to dramatically decreasing abortions in the state.
In the court’s 5-4 decision, the majority found that the pro-abortion advocates did not meet certain procedural thresholds to grant relief, according to U.S. News.
However, he Texas law was met with staunch opposition from progressives, Justice Sonia Sotomayer’s dissent indicated.
“Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand,” she wrote, according to the AP.
Chief Justice John Roberts, though deemed one of the court’s “conservatives” justices, joined the three liberal justices in favor of blocking the pro-life law’s effect.
Although this is a temporary win for pro-life advocates, the SCOTUS ruling does not reflect the constitutionality of the law itself.
Even the five conservatives who constituted the majority of this decision acknowledged that there are “serious questions regarding the constitutionality of the Texas law at issue,” meaning conservatives still have a hard fight ahead.
Conservatives should celebrate this win but not get too comfortable, as the bigger constitutional battle is yet to come in months ahead when the Supreme Court will take up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade in the next session.
