WASHINGTON, Sept 2 — A Texas abortion ban that is the strictest in the United States in almost half a century will remain in place for the foreseeable future after a US Supreme Court decision that raised questions about how it will rule on another upcoming case on women’s rights.
One of the court’s six conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts, joined its three liberals in dissent.“Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand.”
Prominent Democrats including President Joe Biden and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi both voiced strong objections to the Texas law. Congress has the power to legalise abortion nationwide, but with razor-thin majorities, Democrats would face enormous challenges in doing so. With the Senate evenly divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, it is unclear whether Democrats would have the necessary votes to expand abortion rights even if the filibuster was abolished.
Texas is among a dozen mostly Republican-led states to ban the procedure once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, often at six weeks.The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in the coming months in a case centering on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, in which the state has asked the justices to overturn Roe v. Wade. A ruling is due by the end of June 2022.