The Supreme Court Declines To Block Texas Abortion Ban – What It Means

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to block a Texas abortion ban. This Texas law bans abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, or when a heartbeat has been detected. The unique part about this law is that it removes the ability for the state to enforce the law, and instead provides the ability for a private citizen to enforce it and sue abortion providers. This law is in effect in Texas right now but will go through litigation in the upcoming months.

The Supreme Court decided not to block the law at this stage for procedural reasons, which was part of what made this law so creatively crafted. It couldn’t be blocked before it went into effect like the abortion industry is usually able to do.

ACLJ Senior Counsel CeCe Heil discusses the reason the Supreme Court declined to block this abortion ban:

With this bill, the enforcement is with private citizens. So, the ruling that the Supreme Court came down with yesterday denying the injunction really was on procedural basis because they did not bring basically the right defendant. They came after the judge, and not the private citizens. So, it was a procedural ruling and not one substantively on abortion, the right to life, or the right to abortion.

CeCe further analyzed the decision of the Supreme Court, including the Court’s four dissenting Justices:

Abortion distortion – we can see that here. Because we see four Justices that are willing to throw out procedural law, which I believe they would have agreed with on any other case. However, because this case deals with abortion, they are willing to say it doesn’t matter. Even some of the dissenting opinions were basically saying, yes, this was not brought properly; but because it is abortion, we need to hear it. You see abortion distortion is in play here. This case was a procedural issue. This is not like the Dobbs case which actually addresses the issue of abortion and Roe v. Wade. . . . That is not an issue here. Again, it was procedural. It will be an issue in the Dobbs case.

It’s very encouraging to see pro-life state legislatures dedicated to fighting for life of the unborn. This is a monumental moment for the pro-life movement, and we will continue to provide updates on this law and similar laws that will follow. We are working with many of these legislatures on similar legislation, and we’ve filed 3 critical amicus briefs at the Supreme Court in the Dobbs case that will be heard this fall.

ACLJ Director of Policy Harry Hutchison talks about the Left’s frantic response to this decision out of the Supreme Court:

So, the Left’s response to this entirely procedural decision verges on the hysterical. So many individuals in the Left . . . suggest that this decision and similar decisions by the Supreme Court basically make one point and one point only – that evangelical Christians who support this particular bill have become America’s Taliban. This is nonsense on stilts. Then we have President Biden suggesting that the Supreme Court in its procedural decision has engaged in what? Unconstitutional chaos. And he fails to remember his own chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has resulted in serious consequences, and we keep finding out more and more information revealing why this exit strategy failed. We told you about the President’s audio recording that was leaked and showed him placing politics over the safety of our citizens and soldiers. ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell commented on the leaked recording:

Look, I think the most troubling part of this whole leaked audio is that it just shows that this was a decision made for politics. Not because the facts on the ground told us to do so . . . . We should’ve listened to intelligence officers, the State Department officials, Pentagon officials who started saying in March and April that the Taliban was on the march. The warning signs were all given to the political people. But Jake Sullivan and Joe Biden did not listen to the warnings. Even now, we have this audio recording showing not only did they not listen to the warnings, but they ignored the warnings and tried to spin it a different way. They wanted everyone to be on the same page that somehow the Taliban was defeated. When, in reality, the Taliban was not defeated; they were on the march. So, I think this is a case where it shows the politics shamefully coming in as the priority rather than the safety of Americans, the safety of our national security, and listening to the experts on the ground.

The Biden Administration is hoping that since this tragedy happened early in his term as President, the American people will forget. Well, we are not going to be able to forget this. This is not over for the ACLJ. We have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request already with the Biden State Department, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Department of Defense, and U.S. Central Command to hold the Biden Administration accountable. You can read more about what we are doing in my new article.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of the Supreme Court’s decision not to block the Texas abortion ban and President Biden’s exit strategy out of Afghanistan. 

Watch the full broadcast below.