The decision was the latest in a series of legal battles across the country following the Supreme Court’s June 24 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, a half-century-old ruling that had established a national constitutional right to abortion. In Texas, that meant a 1925 law written before Roe, which had banned abortions and punished those who performed them with possible prison terms, automatically went into effect, said Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general. Although it was not enforced after the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe decision, it remained on the books. That ban was temporarily blocked by a Harris County judge after abortion clinics sued for a stay, arguing it had been effectively repealed after the landmark Roe decision. On Saturday morning, Mr. Paxton called the reversal of the stay “a victory for life!” on Twitter. “Our pre- Roe state laws banning abortion in Texas are 100% good law. The litigation continues, but I will continue to win for the unborn babies of Texas,” he said. The state Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday partially overturned the lower district court’s decision. Both sides will continue to argue their case regarding the old law on July 12 before that district court. The lifting of the freeze did not allow criminal enforcement of the ban, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a news release. The group represents abortion clinics in the legal battle. “Extremist politicians are on a crusade to force Texans into pregnancy and childbirth against their will, no matter how devastating the consequences,” said Julia Kay, an attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. Even before Roe was overturned, a law passed last year in Texas allowed abortions only up to about six weeks into pregnancy. And when the Roe decision was overturned, a “trigger ban” was triggered that will ban all abortions in Texas from the moment of fertilization, with rare exceptions, including saving the mother’s life. This law comes into effect at the end of July. Texas is one of several states where abortion rights groups have quickly taken their campaign to the courts, aiming to block or delay abortion restrictions and bans from taking effect. By Friday, they had succeeded in Utah, Kentucky, Louisiana and Florida.
