Parts of Texas abortion law on hold again

The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked portions of a 2013 law in Texas that led to the closing of all but eight abortion facilities in the state.

In an unsigned order, the justices suspended an Oct. 2 ruling by a panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that Texas could immediately apply a rule requiring abortion centers in the state to have hospital-like facilities with operating rooms, air-filtration systems, and other standards that are typically mandated in surgical settings.

The high court also put on hold a separate provision of the law only as it applies to abortion centers in McAllen and El Paso that requires doctors at the facilities to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. That provision remains in effect elsewhere in Texas.

Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas indicated that they would have ruled in favor of the Texas law in all respects.

The 5th Circuit is still considering the overall constitutionality of the abortion law that was overwhelmingly passed by the Texas Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry last year.

But even as it weighs the merits of the law, the appeals court said that it could be enforced in the meantime, which led to the emergency appeal by pro-abortion advocates to the Supreme Court.

The 5th Circuit decision had blocked an August ruling by Austin-based U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel, who had ruled that requiring hospital-style upgrades made access to abortion unnecessarily burdensome. But supporters of the measure pointed out that the upgrades would protect women’s health. Yeakel’s ruling temporarily suspended the upgrade rules before they could go into effect Sept. 1. Today’s order from the Supreme Court means they are on hold again.

Until the Supreme Court intervened today, abortion facilities in the Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and the Dallas–Fort Worth areas were the only ones that remained open. Some other abortion centers had closed even earlier amid enforcement of the rule on admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The appeals court has already upheld that portion of the law twice.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.