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Women protest abortion law in Austin (archive record)
Photo: Jay Janner / AP
Partial success for opponents of the "Heartbeat Bill" in Texas: The US Supreme Court has declared abortion clinics' controversial laws to be admissible in the dispute over the right to abortion. Eight of the nine judges of the conservative Supreme Court spoke out on Friday that such complaints should be heard in a federal court. The extensive ban on abortion in the southern state therefore remains in force for the time being.
The strictest abortion law in the United States came into effect on September 1 in conservative Texas.
It prohibits termination of pregnancy from the point at which the fetus's heartbeat can be determined, i.e. from around the sixth week of pregnancy.
Many women do not even know at this point that they are pregnant.
Even in the case of rape or incest, the law does not provide for any exceptions.
Critics of the law had hoped the Supreme Court could overturn the law altogether after a majority of constitutional judges let it through in early November that they considered the "heartbeat law" to be inadmissible.
Strict abortion laws in other states had previously repeatedly failed in court because they violated the fundamental judgment »Roe v.
Wade ”of the Supreme Court.
In 1973 the Supreme Court enshrined the right of women to an abortion and confirmed this in a further landmark judgment in 1992.
As a guideline, abortions are generally allowed until the fetus is viable outside the womb.
This is the case after about 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Conservative forces are attacking the 1973 landmark ruling. A Mississippi abortion law case is pending before the Supreme Court (read more here).
as / dpa / AFP
