Texas Blocked From Halting Abortions to Save Masks, Gowns

(Bloomberg) -- A federal judge ordered Texas to temporarily stop enforcing its halt on abortions, which state leaders had declared medically unnecessary procedures that wasted scarce medical resources needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Texas’s Republican governor and attorney general last week threatened doctors with steep fines and jail time for performing even medication abortions that don’t require the use of personal protective equipment, such as surgical masks and sterile gloves and gowns. Only abortions needed to save the life of the mother were allowed under the governor’s order.

“The executive order, as written, does not exceed the governor’s power to deal with the emergency,” U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled Monday. “But the attorney general’s interpretation of that order constitutes the threat of criminal penalties against those whose interpretation differs.”

“Before fetal viability outside the womb, a state has no interest sufficient to justify an outright ban on abortions,” said Yeakel, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.

Texas vowed to immediately appeal the ruling, which a spokesman for state Attorney General Ken Paxton called disappointing.

The temporary restraining order is in effect until April 13, the same day the Austin judge has set a hearing for further discussion of the matter.

The order was issued shortly after 16 states, led by Louisiana, filed papers supporting Texas’s bid to block abortions as a threat to public health during the Covid-19 epidemic.

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