Amid a long legal battle on whether or not abortions can proceed in Texas during the novel coronavirus pandemic, a federal court of appeals has ruled in favor of abortion activists and allowed medication abortions to proceed in the state. The Monday ruling by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals follows efforts by Republican state officials to advance their anti-abortionagenda under the disguise of conserving medical supplies for COVID-19 victims.
According toCNN, because the technique does not require the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) needed by healthcare officials to treat coronavirus victims, the court found that medication abortions are not covered by the governor’s order. In the ruling, Judge James L. Dennis wrote that the state’s move to ban medication abortions “is a strong indication that the enforcement is pretextual and does not bear a ‘real or substantial relation’ to the public health crisis we are experiencing.”