AUSTIN (AP) — Texas abortion clinics returned to court Friday, weakened in their efforts to stop the nation's most restrictive abortion law after the U.S. Supreme Court last month allowed the state's near-total ban on the procedure to stay in place.
It left only a narrow issue before the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans — whether to send a more limited challenge back to a federal judge in Austin, who has already once blocked the restrictions, or to the Texas Supreme Court. There was no immediate ruling after an hour of arguments, and clinics argue the procedural battle only guarantees the restrictions stay in effect longer.
The Supreme Court signaled last month in a separate case out of Mississippi that it would roll back abortion rights, and possibly overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, in a ruling that is expected later this year.
