Federal Appeals Court upholds Texas ban on most abortions during coronavirus pandemic

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A federal Court of Appeals has allowed Texas to continue its ban on most abortions during the coronavirus pandemic. Tuesday’s ruling overturns a lower court’s decision to block the state’s ban on non-essential abortions. The ban remains in place while the case moves on to be heard by a federal court in Austin next week.

On March 22, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued an emergency decree to limit any medical procedures that were not “immediately medically necessary;” the state said this was necessary to save bed space and equipment for COVID-19 patients. Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subsequently confirmed the order includes all abortions that are not required to protect the mother’s life and health.

As hundreds of abortions were canceled, Planned Parenthood and other groups sued on the grounds that the order is an unconstitutional near-outright ban on abortion. Ruling in favor of the plaintiffs last week, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel said the Supreme Court had clearly determined women have a right to end their pregnancies and that “there can be no outright ban on such a procedure.” The state of Texas quickly appealed to the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Overturning the lower court ruling, the Appeals court found 2-1 that the District Judge had been wrong to give abortion providers “a blanket exemption from a generally applicable emergency public health measure.” It was pointed out that abortions were not the only procedures to be banned for the emergency period.

In regards to whether the ban is unconstitutional, President Trump appointee Judge Kyle Duncan wrote: “individual rights secured by the Constitution do not disappear during a public health crisis, but … Rights could be reasonably restricted during those times.” U.S. Circuit Judge James Dennis, appointed by President Bill Clinton, dissented.

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