Dear John,

On Wednesday night, a federal district court judge in Austin, Texas, issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of Texas’s S.B. 8 abortion ban. The law, which banned virtually all abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest, had been allowed to go into effect September 1st when the US Supreme Court failed to intervene. 

In his 113-page ruling that detailed the suffering and harm caused to countless women and girls in Texas, Federal District Court Judge Robert L. Pitman sided with Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) which challenged the law last month, and declared S.B. 8 blatantly unconstitutional. 

“From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution,” writes Pitman. “That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.”

After weeks of uncertainty for health providers and Texans alike, we celebrate this further affirmation of what we already knew: that the law and similar pre-viability abortion bans in other states are unconstitutional. But we’re far from out of the woods yet. Clinics in the state have already expressed fears about resuming abortions that violate the law, due to the potential of retroactive enforcement if S.B.8 is ultimately upheld. And for clinics that were temporarily closed down in the wake of the ban’s enforcement, it will take time to fully resume services. 

What’s more, within hours of the judge’s ruling, the state of Texas notified the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that it would be appealing the decision. The case is likely to make it all the way to the Supreme Court. 

And in the meanwhile, as the Texas case makes its way through the courts, the date for oral arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case involving Mississippi’s 15 week pre-viability abortion ban approaches. The outcome of these two cases will determine the future of abortion rights in the U.S.

We’re resting a little easier this weekend, knowing that the DOJ and reproductive rights advocates won’t back down without a fight. Last weekend, we saw tens of thousands turn out across the U.S. to declare their support for reproductive rights, and affirm that a woman’s decision to end a pregnancy is nobody’s business but her own. We hope you’ll continue to join us in this fight — because there is far too much at stake for us to back down now. 

For equality,

Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor

P.S.— Despite overall economic gains in September, women lost a net total of 26,000 jobs—meaning that those gains went exclusively to men. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated America’s caregiving crisis, and disproportionately impacted women and people of color. But congress has the power to fix this problem via the Build Back Better Agenda. See our stories on the proposed Build Back Better Act below.