Texas Supreme Court upholds heartbeat law

Lawyers representing abortion centers in Texas conceded Friday that they have little recourse to stop the law that protects unborn babies once they have a detectable heartbeat, usually at about six weeks of gestation. The Republican-majority court ruled that only private citizens can enforce the law by suing anyone who performs an abortion or assists a woman with terminating her pregnancy after about six weeks. If state or medical licensing officials could be named as enforcers, abortionists could have had a path for further lawsuits.

What does this mean for future legal battles? During earlier arguments, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights said a ruling against them means “this case is effectively over.” The case will return to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but the abortion centers expect the judges to dismiss it. Since the law went into effect Sept. 1, state health data suggest abortions fell by 50 percent in only two months, but that number does not account for women who crossed state borders or ordered abortion pills by mail.

Dig deeper: Read Stephanie Morton’s report in Vitals about a resurgence in pro-life activity in Texas after the bill passed.