Texas judge blocks Biden order requiring doctors to perform abortions in emergencies

A federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked enforcement of a Biden administration order requiring hospitals to perform abortions in medical emergencies, siding with state officials who said the federal order should not preempt Texas abortion law.

Texas sued the federal government over the order in July, arguing that the guidance violates the state’s authority to create and enforce its own laws. Starting Thursday, it will be illegal for doctors to perform an abortion in the state, except in rare cases where the pregnant person's life is in jeopardy.

In a late Tuesday order, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix wrote that the Biden administration “lacked statutory authority” to issue its guidance on emergency abortions and that allowing federal guidance to supersede state law would cause “irreparable harm.”

“The Guidance gives Texas hospitals and physicians license — much more, requires them — to violate Texas abortion laws if their medical judgment says an abortion is required to stabilize the patient in a situation prohibited by Texas law,” said Hendrix, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. “This harms Texas’ legitimate interest in the continued enforceability of its abortion laws.”

The Department of Health and Human Services issued the guidance in July, weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that abortion is not a constitutional right.

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White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the Texas decision, “a blow to Texans,” saying pregnant women in Texas may now be denied appropriate treatment for conditions such as dangerously high blood pressure or severe bleeding.

“It’s wrong, it’s backwards, and women may die as a result. The fight is not over,” Jean-Pierre said in a prepared statement. “The President will continue to push to require hospitals to provide life-saving and health-preserving reproductive care.”

A similar case is playing out in Idaho, where a federal judge suggested Monday that the state's abortion ban might violate the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. A ruling in that case is expected later Wednesday.

The Biden administration’s guidance states that emergency room doctors must perform life-saving medical care to pregnant patients who are experiencing an emergency medical condition — even if that care includes an abortion otherwise prohibited by state law. The guidance listed an ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss or emergent hypertensive disorders as examples of potential medical conditions that may necessitate an abortion to save a pregnant person.

The administration threatened to fine or strip Medicare status from hospitals that failed to follow the guidance, which was issued in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court ending federal constitutional protections for abortion.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the Biden administration was attempting to use federal healthcare regulations to "transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic."

"Last night, the court ruled in favor of Texas!" he said in a tweet. "A WIN for mothers, babies & the TX healthcare industry."

Hendrix ruled that the guidance, issued under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, goes beyond the scope of federal law and fails to appropriately balance the interests of a pregnant person and their unborn child.

“To the extent that the Guidance would require abortion where Texas would not, Texas law does so to ‘provide the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive’,” the order reads. “The Court will not interject itself in balancing the health of an unborn child and the health of his mother when that balancing is left to the people and their elected representatives.”

Texas has several overlapping bans on abortion, including a statute pre-dating Roe v. Wade that criminalizes all abortions. On Thursday, the Texas abortion "trigger law" will go into effect and make it a felony to perform an abortion at any point in pregnancy.

Contributing: The Associated Press