Houston Chronicle: US court hears arguments over Texas abortion law
By Michael Kunzelman
“A federal judge abused his discretion when he blocked the state of Texas from enforcing a law requiring doctors to show sonograms to patients and describe the images before an abortion, a lawyer for the state told an appeals court Wednesday. A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t immediately rule on Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell’s request for them to lift a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks in Austin, Texas. Sparks ruled in August that several provisions of the state law violated the free-speech rights of abortion-performing doctors. A group of medical providers sued to block enforcement of the law, which also requires doctors to describe the fetal heartbeat to a patient before performing an abortion. ‘Our argument is that there is nothing in the record and everything to the contrary that this information is medically necessary,’ said plaintiffs’ attorney Julie Rikelman, of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights. Rikelman said other courts have temporarily blocked similar laws in Oklahoma and North Carolina after her group sued. She added that several other states, including Louisiana and Mississippi, have enacted ‘less intrusive’ sonogram laws that make it optional for doctors to provide the information to patients. Sparks has scheduled a Jan. 20 hearing on dueling requests for him to decide the underlying case without a trial.”
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