Abortion services in McAllen will resume after a Harris County judge granted a temporary restraining order against the enforcement of a pre-Roe v. Wade abortion ban.
Whole Woman’s Health, which operates the abortion clinic in McAllen, says they will resume services at their four clinics in Texas.
The temporary restraining order allows the clinics to resume service but previous restrictions are still in place such as abortions after six weeks of pregnancy that were implemented last year through Texas Senate Bill 8, also known as the “heartbeat bill.”
“Any day that we are able to provide the abortions Texans need and deserve is a good day!” Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health and Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, said in a statement.
“This TRO means that we now have the opportunity to open our doors in Texas before the trigger ban takes effect a month or two from now,” Hagstrom Miller said. “We must still comply with Texas regulations like the 6 week ban, the 24 hour waiting period and the two visit requirement, so even this win is heavily restricted. Nevertheless, we are contacting the patients on our waiting lists and we will resume services in our 4 Texas clinics and help as many people as soon as possible.”
Clinics operated by Whole Woman’s Health immediately began contacting patients on waiting lists and bringing staff and providers back in when news broke of the temporary restraining order, according to a spokesperson.
While they are reopening to provide care, they noted that Texas still enforces a two-visit requirement and a 24-hour waiting period, as well as the six-week ban and other restrictions.
Abortions throughout Texas clinics completely stopped on Friday following the Supreme Court decision to roll back abortion rights which prompted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to declare that abortion was now illegal in Texas.
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His office also issued an advisory Friday stating that some prosecutors “may choose to immediately pursue criminal prosecutions based on violations of Texas abortion prohibitions predating Roe that were never repealed by the Texas Legislature.”
However, the decision Tuesday by the Harris County judge has temporarily stopped enforcement of those abortion prohibitions.
A hearing on a temporary injunction in the case is now scheduled for July 12, according to court records.
If the judge continues to stop enforcement of those pre-Roe abortion bans following the injunction hearing, abortions will still only be allowed to continue for a very limited time as a “trigger ban” will inevitably go into effect.
The Texas “trigger ban,” enacted by the Human Life Protection Act passed by the Texas legislature in 2021, will go into effect 30 days after the Supreme Court issues an official judgment overruling Roe. Friday’s Supreme Court ruling was just an opinion, not an actual judgment, so it is still left to be seen when Texas’ trigger ban will go into effect.
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