The Texas Supreme Court ruled against a coalition of abortion clinics in a case involving the state’s heartbeat abortion ban law. In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the justices ruled that the heads of four state boards – the Texas Medical Board, Texas Board of Nursing, Texas Board of Pharmacy and Texas Health and Human Services Commission – do not have the authority to enforce the law. The law prohibits abortions when an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detected.
It went into effect last year (2021) and gives sole enforcement authority to private citizens, who are allowed to sue abortion doctors who violate the law.
A pro-choice coalition led by Whole Woman’s Health sued the four government officials, hoping to block the enforcement of the law.
The Texas Supreme Court said “We conclude that Texas law does not authorize the state-agency executives to enforce the Act’s requirements, either directly or indirectly,”
ALSO READ: Biden Admin Launches Task Force With Goal Of Advancing Abortion Rights
According to the decision: It “may be enforced by a private civil action, that no state official may bring or participate as a party in any such action, that such an action is the exclusive means to enforce the requirements, and that these restrictions apply notwithstanding any other law,”
“Based on these provisions, we conclude that Texas law does not grant the state-agency executives named as defendants in this case any authority to enforce the Act’s requirements, either directly or indirectly,”
This means that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to block this law. Texas Right to Life celebrated the news via a tweet by it’s media director Kimberlyn Schwartz which read: “This is a big victory for the TX Heartbeat Act!” “We have said from the beginning that abortionists’ lawsuit should be dismissed, and we’re grateful that the law will continue saving thousands of lives.”