Mexican Legalizes Abortion While Texas Bans It

Federal district judge Robert Pittman, in a 113-page ruling decision, ruled that the Texas law violated the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade. Texas, Pitman explained, purposely drafted S.B. 8 "to preclude review by federal courts that have the obligation to safeguard the very rights the statute likely violates." But "there can be no question," Pitman concluded, that S.B. 8 "operates as a ban on pre-viability abortions," in violation of Roe and Casey. Texas appealed Judge Pitman's order to the 5th Circuit, temporarily put the order on hold, reinstating the ban on abortions. Six days later, on October 14th, the court of appeals issued a new, one-paragraph order that kept the ban in place and fast-tracked Texas' appeal.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard nearly three hours of argument on November 1^st focusing on the Texas law that has effectively shut down abortions in the state. The Supreme Court is likely to overturn the Texas ban on abortions, but may minimize the right to an abortion when it decides Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, challenging Mississippi's law that imposes a ban on abortions after 15 weeks.

The United States used to lead the world in protecting women's rights. Now countries that had previously banned or limited abortions, like Mexico, France and Italy, protect the right of women to have an abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court should not allow states, like Texas and Mississippi, to unreasonably restrict a woman's right to an abortion. The nation's highest court can uphold Mississippi's limitation on abortions to the first fifteen weeks without overturning Roe v. Wade. Fifteen weeks is a much more reasonable limit than the Texas law's six-week rule. Certainly, before fifteen weeks, a woman should know if she is pregnant.

Justices Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Gorsuch all testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that they believe in "stare decisis," which means they will uphold a long-standing precedent like Roe v. Wade. During oral argument in the Mississippi case Justice Kavanaugh suggested that he may vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. Overturning Roe would demonstrate that Kavanaugh, Barrett and Gorsuch lied under oath to the Judiciary Committee. It would further show that the U.S. Supreme Court is yet another political branch of government and not the independent judiciary that it claims to be.

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