Texas abortion providers on Friday conceded a final blow to their best hope of stopping the nation's most restrictive abortion law after a new ruling ended what little path forward the U.S. Supreme Court had left for clinics.
The decision by the Texas Supreme Court, which is entirely controlled by Republicans, spelled the coming end to a federal lawsuit that abortion clinics filed even before the restrictions took effect in September, but were then rejected at nearly every turn afterward.
“There is nothing left, this case is effectively over with respect to our challenge to the abortion ban,” said Marc Hearron, attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which led the challenge against the Texas law known as Senate Bill 8.
Although Texas abortion clinics are not dropping the lawsuit, they now expect it will be dismissed in the coming weeks or months.
The Texas law bans abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy and makes no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Abortions in Texas have plummeted by more than 50% since the law took effect.
It is likely to further embolden other Republican-controlled states that are now pressing forward with similar laws, including neighboring Oklahoma, where many Texas women have crossed state lines to get an abortion for the past six months. The Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate on Thursday approved a half-dozen anti-abortion measures, including a Texas-style ban.
The decision by the Texas Supreme Court turned on whether medical licensing officials had an enforcement role under the law known as Senate Bill 8, and therefore, could be sued by clinics that are reaching for any possible way to halt the restrictions.
But writing for the court, Justice Jeffrey Boyd said those state officials have no enforcement authority, “either directly or indirectly."
The U.S. Supreme Court has signaled in a separate case out of Mississippi that it would roll back abortion rights, and possibly overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, in a ruling that is expected later this year.
The number of monthly abortions in Texas fell by more than 50% in the two months after the law took effect, according to state health figures. But that data only tells part of the story, and researchers say the number of Texas women who are going online to get abortion pills by mail has risen sharply.
It has now been two days since Major League Baseball moved to cancel opening day games for the upcoming season. The announcement from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred came during the league's ongoing work stoppage, just the ninth in MLB history. Owners voted unanimously on December 2, 2021 to enact a lockout after the collective bargaining agreement between the league and players expired. On March 1, 2022, following over a week of daily negotiations between the two sides, and three months of on and off negotiations, the league officially canceled the first two series of the regular season. Gabe Lacques, MLB reporter and baseball editor for USA Today Sports, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Music-focused NFT platform Pianity raising $6.5 million in a seed funding round. Pianity has developed a marketplace that allows musicians to sell their tracks as limited edition NFTs. Since its launch last year, the company says it has already sold 11,000 NFTs and artists have earned over $1.1 million from NFT sales. Kevin Primicerio, co-founder and CEO of Pianity, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Russia seizes a major Ukraine nuclear power plant, students protest Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, and it's official: nobody really expects Pop-Tarts to have real strawberries. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Friday, March 4, 2022.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported that an estimated one million people have fled from Ukraine since Russia invaded. Christopher Boian, senior communications officer at UNHCR, joined Cheddar News to report on the current refugee crisis and what the world might expect if conditions continue to worsen. "We have planning figures that forecast as many as four million people could be forced to flee Ukraine," he said. "But that very much depends on how the conflict underway in that country at the moment unfolds in the days and possibly weeks ahead."
Christian Blauvelt, executive managing editor at IndieWire, joins Cheddar News to discuss the growing number of studios pulling content from Russia over Ukraine invasion.
Caroline Hickman, lecturer at University of Bath and psychosocial researcher on climate change, joins Cheddar News to discuss climate change's impact on mental health.
Alexandre Mongeon, the CEO and co-founder of Vision Marine Technologies, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss the latest innovations in the e-boating industry, and how fully electric motors and boats will play a role in the fight against the climate crisis.
