Appeals court revives Texas heartbeat law

Many Texas abortionists anticipated higher courts would quickly smack down Judge Robert Pitman’s Thursday order blocking a pro-life law, so they held off resuming abortion services. On Friday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the second time that the heartbeat act could remain in effect while lawsuits against it move through the justice system.

What is the latest lawsuit about? The U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas to stop the law, which gives private citizens the right to sue abortionists and others who terminate pregnancies of babies who have detectable heartbeats. In defending the measure, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the state cannot “be held responsible for the filings of private citizens that Texas is powerless to prevent.” The 5th Circuit gave the Justice Department until Tuesday to respond to its order. The Supreme Court rejected a previous request to block the same law.

Dig deeper: Read Marvin Olasky’s column about the court battle over Texas’ novel pro-life action.