Fight Over Texas Abortions Amid Coronavirus Orders Is Over: State Attorney General Says

Abortion clinics in Texas can now resume operations nearly a month after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued an executive order banning all nonessential surgeries and procedures, saying it would preserve medical resources as the state prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The original order put a halt to all abortions, forcing some women to cross state lines to get the procedure. In response, several abortion clinics filed a lawsuit against Abbott and state lawmakers, triggering a legal battle over what they claimed was a time-sensitive, essential service.

Abbott issued a new executive order, which took effect on Wednesday, that eased restrictions and allowed for more procedures to be exempt from the nonessential surgery ban.

Though the order didn’t specifically identify abortions as an exempt procedure, the state attorney general’s office said in legal documents filed late Wednesday that abortions could continue under Abbott’s new order.

State lawyers said that there was no longer a legal issue since the plaintiffs in the lawsuit ― the abortion clinics ― had “already certified they are in compliance with an exception” under Abbott’s new executive order.

Under the new order, health care facilities are allowed to continue nonessential procedures if they reserve a portion of their facility to care for potential COVID-19 patients and do not request publicly sourced personal protective equipment.

“Plaintiffs in fact have made those certifications and received acknowledgment from [the Texas Health and Human Services Commission],” the state lawyers said in the filing. “Having done so, Plaintiffs admit the exemption applies to them. There is no controversy between the parties, and the Court therefore lacks jurisdiction.”

When the lawsuit against the first ban was filed, a federal district judge initially sided with the clinics and granted a temporary restraining order that allowed clinics to continue with abortion procedures.

That restraining order was soon reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, and the abortion ban continued. A federal district court then granted a second temporary restraining order for clinics, but the 5th Circuit again sided with the state and the ban continued.

The state attorney general’s filing on late Wednesday came after abortion clinics had already opened back up earlier in the day in anticipation of Abbott’s new order.

In an interview with the Texas Tribune, Dyana Limon-Mercado, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, said that the initial ban on abortions that lasted for the past month was “an unthinkable nightmare” for those who have had to go out of state to receive access to the procedure.