People walk past the U.S. Supreme Court the day the court is set to release orders and opinions in Washington, June 1, 2021.
Erin Scott | Reuters
The Supreme Court declined to block a Texas law banning most abortions in a 5-4 decision late Wednesday.
Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three Democratic appointees, Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, dissented.
The “heartbeat” law took effect after midnight in Texas on Wednesday. It bars most abortions after as early as six weeks of pregnancy — when many women still have yet to discover they are pregnant — and allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits against abortion providers.
Sotomayor called the decision “stunning,” saying the Texas law “flouts nearly 50 years of federal precedents.”
“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,” she wrote.
On Monday, a group of abortion providers and advocates, including Planned Parenthood, had filed an emergency request to block the law’s implementation. The petitioners said the law would essentially overturn the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that enshrined the right for women to choose to have an abortion.
In response, a group of Texas officials including Attorney General Ken Paxton urged the high court to deny their opponents’ bid to thwart the law, calling the request “audacious.”
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.
