AP

Texas Supreme Court blocks order that resumed abortions

Jul 1, 2022, 11:30 AM | Updated: Jul 2, 2022, 8:50 pm

Abortion rights supporter Elli Morris, left, played her bamboo flute outside the Jackson Women's He...

Abortion rights supporter Elli Morris, left, played her bamboo flute outside the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic in Jackson, Miss., as she and others carried signs expressing their opinions, Saturday, July 2, 2022. The clinic is the only facility that performs abortions in the state. On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protections for abortion. However, a Mississippi judge has set a hearing for Tuesday, in a lawsuit by the state's only abortion clinic that seeks to block a law that would ban most abortions. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)


              Demonstrators gather outside the Whole Women's Health clinic Friday, June 24,2022 in McAllen, Texas. The one clinic that provides abortion services in the Rio Grande Valley ceased providing abortions on Friday following the Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion. (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP)
            
              Protesters march and chant on Friday, June 24, 2022, at North Straub Park in St. Petersburg, Fla.   The Supreme Court on Friday stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, a fundamental and deeply personal change for Americans' lives after nearly a half-century under Roe v. Wade. The court’s overturning of the landmark court ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
            
              Mahayana Landowne, of Brooklyn, N.Y., wears a "Lady Justice" costume as she marches past the Supreme Court during a protest for abortion-rights, Thursday, June 30, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
            
              Wearing an anti-abortion T-shirt, a father and his sons from Central Florida pray, as abortion-rights supporters protest outside of the Supreme Court, Wednesday, June 29, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
            
              Protesters march and chant on Friday, June 24, 2022, at North Straub Park in St. Petersburg, Fla.   The Supreme Court on Friday stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, a fundamental and deeply personal change for Americans' lives after nearly a half-century under Roe v. Wade. The court’s overturning of the landmark court ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
            
              Derenda Hancock, co-director of the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic patient escorts, known as the Pink House Defenders, left, escorts an employee back to the clinic in Jackson, Miss., Saturday, July 2, 2022. The clinic is the only facility that performs abortions in the state. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
            
              Demonstrators gather outside the Whole Women's Health clinic Friday, June 24,2022 in McAllen, Texas. The one clinic that provides abortion services in the Rio Grande Valley ceased providing abortions on Friday following the Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion. (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP)
            
              Abortion rights supporter Elli Morris, left, played her bamboo flute outside the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic in Jackson, Miss., as she and others carried signs expressing their opinions, Saturday, July 2, 2022. The clinic is the only facility that performs abortions in the state. On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protections for abortion. However, a Mississippi judge has set a hearing for Tuesday, in a lawsuit by the state's only abortion clinic that seeks to block a law that would ban most abortions. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
            
              Demonstrators gather outside the Whole Women's Health clinic Friday, June 24,2022 in McAllen, Texas. The one clinic that provides abortion services in the Rio Grande Valley ceased providing abortions on Friday following the Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion. (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP)
            
              Bryan Peden, an anti-abortion supporter stands outside the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic in Jackson, Miss., and waves his King James version of the Bible, as he cries out to women entering the medical facility to not have and abortion, Saturday, July 2, 2022. The clinic is the only facility that performs abortions in the state. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
            
              Protesters march and chant on Friday, June 24, 2022, at North Straub Park in St. Petersburg, Fla.   The Supreme Court on Friday stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, a fundamental and deeply personal change for Americans' lives after nearly a half-century under Roe v. Wade. The court’s overturning of the landmark court ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
            
              Anti-abortion protesters shout at a possible patient arriving at the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic in Jackson, Miss., Saturday, July 2, 2022. The clinic is the only facility that performs abortions in the state. On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protections for abortion. However, a Mississippi judge has set a hearing for Tuesday, in a lawsuit by the state's only abortion clinic that seeks to block a law that would ban most abortions. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
            
              Demonstrators gather outside the Whole Women's Health clinic Friday, June 24,2022 in McAllen, Texas. The one clinic that provides abortion services in the Rio Grande Valley ceased providing abortions on Friday following the Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion. (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP)
            
              Protesters march and chant on Friday, June 24, 2022, at North Straub Park in St. Petersburg, Fla.   The Supreme Court on Friday stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, a fundamental and deeply personal change for Americans' lives after nearly a half-century under Roe v. Wade. The court’s overturning of the landmark court ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
            
              Mahayana Landowne, of Brooklyn, N.Y., wears a "Lady Justice" costume as she marches past the Supreme Court during a protest for abortion-rights, Thursday, June 30, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
            
              Wearing an anti-abortion T-shirt, a father and his sons from Central Florida pray, as abortion-rights supporters protest outside of the Supreme Court, Wednesday, June 29, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
            
              Protesters march and chant on Friday, June 24, 2022, at North Straub Park in St. Petersburg, Fla.   The Supreme Court on Friday stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, a fundamental and deeply personal change for Americans' lives after nearly a half-century under Roe v. Wade. The court’s overturning of the landmark court ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
            
              Demonstrators walk past the Whole Women's Health Clinic Friday, June,24 2022 in McAllen, Texas. The one clinic that provides abortion services in the Rio Grande Valley ceased providing abortions on Friday following the Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion. (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP)
            
              Mahayana Landowne, of Brooklyn, N.Y., wears a "Lady Justice" costume as she marches past the Supreme Court during a protest for abortion-rights, Thursday, June 30, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
            
              Protesters march and chant on Friday, June 24, 2022, at North Straub Park in St. Petersburg, Fla.   The Supreme Court on Friday stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, a fundamental and deeply personal change for Americans' lives after nearly a half-century under Roe v. Wade. The court’s overturning of the landmark court ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
            
              Demonstrators walk past the Whole Women's Health Clinic Friday, June,24 2022 in McAllen, Texas. The one clinic that provides abortion services in the Rio Grande Valley ceased providing abortions on Friday following the Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion. (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP)
            
              Demonstrators gather outside the Whole Women's Health clinic Friday, June 24,2022 in McAllen, Texas. The one clinic that provides abortion services in the Rio Grande Valley ceased providing abortions on Friday following the Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion. (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP)
            
              Demonstrators gather outside the Whole Women's Health clinic Friday, June 24,2022 in McAllen, Texas. The one clinic that provides abortion services in the Rio Grande Valley ceased providing abortions on Friday following the Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion. (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP)
            
              Abortion-rights advocates gather outside the Tarrant County Courthouse during the Bans Off Our Bodies protest in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday, June 25, 2022. Alternating between chants of "My body, my choice!" and "Reproductive rights are human rights!" the crowd marched downtown. (Madeleine Cook/Star-Telegram via AP)
            
              Casper Byrd, right, of Bowling Green, sits with friends as they listen to various speakers share their experiences with abortion and women's rights at the BG Freedom Walkers' protest against the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Kentucky's trigger law to ban abortion, at Circus Square Park in Bowling Green, Ky., Saturday, June 25, 2022. (Grace Ramey/Daily News via AP)
            
              Chrisley Carpio and Victoria Hinckley, 20 speak to protesters during an abortion rights rally on Saturday, June 25, 2022 in Temple Terrace, Fla.  A Florida judge on Thursday, June 30,  said he would temporarily block a 15-week abortion ban from taking effect, following a court challenge by reproductive health providers who say the state constitution guarantees a right to the procedure. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
            
              Abortion-rights advocates gather outside the Tarrant County Courthouse during the Bans Off Our Bodies protest in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday, June 25, 2022. Alternating between chants of "My body, my choice!" and "Reproductive rights are human rights!" the crowd marched downtown. (Madeleine Cook/Star-Telegram via AP)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court blocked an order that had briefly allowed some clinics to resume abortions in the state, the latest development in legal scrambles across the U.S. since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

The court on Friday night stopped a three-day-old order by a Houston judge who said clinics could resume abortions up to six weeks into pregnancy. The practical impact of the decision was difficult to measure at the start of the holiday weekend.

Planned Parenthood’s affiliates in Texas had not resumed abortion services even after the restraining order was put in place Tuesday.

“Nothing has changed operationally with the state Supreme Court’s ruling,” spokeswoman Ianthe Metzger said.

Whole Woman’s Health, which has four Texas clinics, had said it would start working through a waiting list and resume services, but that was before the Supreme Court intervened at the request of Attorney General Ken Paxton. No one at Whole Woman’s Health could immediately be reached for comment Saturday.

At issue is a long-dormant 1925 criminal law that targets individuals who perform abortions. Clinics had argued that it was invalid after abortion became a constitutional right across the U.S. in 1973. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, struck down the landmark Roe decision June 24, leaving abortion policy to states.

Texas’ pre-Roe law protects “unborn children from the moment of conception,” the attorney general’s office said in a court filing. “The district court’s temporary restraining order prohibits Texas from acting to protect that life — the harms suffered will be immeasurable and irreversible.”

Separately, Texas has a 2021 law that was designed to ban abortion in the event that Roe were overturned. It takes effect in the weeks ahead.

“Extremist politicians are on a crusade to force Texans into pregnancy and childbirth against their will, no matter how devastating the consequences,” said Julia Kaye of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Providers and patients across the country have been struggling to navigate the evolving legal landscape around abortion laws and access.

In Florida, a law banning abortions after 15 weeks went into effect Friday, the day after a judge called it a violation of the state constitution and said he would sign an order temporarily blocking it next week. The ban could have broader implications in the South, as Florida currently allows greater access to the procedure than neighboring states.

Even when women travel outside states with abortion bans, they may have fewer options to end their pregnancies as the prospect of prosecution follows them.

Planned Parenthood of Montana this week stopped providing medication abortions to patients who live in states with bans.

Planned Parenthood North Central States, which offers the procedure in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, is telling patients they must take both pills in the regimen while in a state that allows abortion.

The use of pills has been the most common method to end a pregnancy since 2000, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone, the main drug used in medication abortions. Taken with misoprostol, a drug that causes cramping that empties the womb, it constitutes the abortion pill.

___

White reported from Detroit.

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