A federal judge in Texas ruled a Biden administration effort to ensure access to abortions in medical emergencies was “unauthorized,” in an early win for state officials.
Texas filed the suit against the Department of Health and Human Services in July, challenging the position that emergency abortions for medical reasons take priority over state bans on such procedures. In a ruling late Tuesday, Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee, preliminarily halted enforcement of that measure in Texas.
The administration issued the rule under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to abortion. The Justice Department cited the rule in a separate lawsuit it brought against Idaho for its abortion restrictions.
