Texas clinics on Saturday canceled appointments they had booked during a 48-hour reprieve from the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S., which was back in effect as weary providers again turn their sights to the Supreme Court.
The Biden administration, which sued Texas over the law known as Senate Bill 8, has yet to say whether it will go that route after a federal appeals court reinstated the law late Friday. The latest twist came just two days after a lower court in Austin suspended the law, which bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks, before some women know they are pregnant. It makes no exceptions in cases of rape or incest.
The White House had no immediate comment Saturday.
For now at least, the law is in the hands of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which allowed the restrictions to resume pending further arguments. In the meantime, Texas abortions providers and patients are right back to where they've been for most of the last six weeks.
Out-of-state clinics already inundated with Texas patients seeking abortions were again the closest option for many women. Providers say others are being forced to carry pregnancies to term, or waiting in hopes that courts will strike down the law that took effect on Sept. 1.
There are also new questions -- including whether anti-abortion advocates will try punishing Texas physicians who performed abortions during the brief window the law was paused from late Wednesday to late Friday. Texas leaves enforcement solely in the hands of private citizens who can collect $10,000 or more in damages if they successfully sue abortion providers who flout the restrictions.
Texas Right to Life, the state's largest anti-abortion group, created a tip line to receive reports of violators. About a dozen calls came in after U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman suspended the law, said John Seago, the group's legislative director.
Although some Texas clinics said they had briefly resumed abortions on patients who were beyond six weeks, Seago said his group had no lawsuits in the works. He said the clinics' public statements did not "match up with what we saw on the ground," which he says include a network of observers and crisis pregnancy centers.
"I don't have any credible evidence at the moment of litigation that we would bring forward," Seago said Saturday.
Texas had roughly two dozen abortion clinics before the law took effect. At least six clinics resumed performing abortions after six weeks of pregnancy during the reprieve, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
At Whole Woman's Health, which has four abortion clinics in Texas, president and CEO Amy Hagstrom Miller said she did not have the number of abortions her locations performed for patients beyond six weeks but put it at "quite a few." She said her clinics were again complying with the law and acknowledged the risks her physicians and staff had taken.
"Of course we are all worried," she said. "But we also feel a deep commitment to providing abortion care when it is legal to do so, we did."
Pitman, the federal judge who halted the Texas law Wednesday in a blistering 113-page opinion, was appointed by President Barack Obama. He called the law an "offensive deprivation" of the constitutional right to an abortion, but his ruling was swiftly set aside -- at least for now -- in a one-page order by the 5th Circuit that on Friday night.
That same appeals court previously allowed the Texas restrictions to take effect in September, in a separate lawsuit brought by abortion providers. This time, the court gave the Justice Department until 5 p.m. Tuesday to respond.
What happens after that is unclear, including how soon the appeals court will act or whether they will request more arguments. Texas is asking the appeals court for a permanent injunction that would allow the law to stand while the case plays out.
In the meantime, Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, urged the Supreme Court to "step in and stop this madness." Last month, the high court allowed the law to move forward in a 5-4 decision, although it did so without ruling on the law's constitutionality.
A 1992 decision by the Supreme Court prevented states from banning abortion before viability, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb, around 24 weeks of pregnancy. But Texas' version has outmaneuvered courts due to its novel enforcement mechanism that leaves enforcement to private citizens and not prosecutors, which critics say amounts to a bounty.
The Biden administration could bring the case back to the Supreme Court and ask it to quickly restore Pitman's order, although it is unclear whether they will do so.
"I'm not very optimistic about what could happen at the Supreme Court," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, about the Justice Department's chances.
"But there's not much downside either, right?" he said. "The question is, what's changed since the last time they saw it? There is this full opinion, this full hearing before the judge and the record. So that may be enough."
The smell of sage and sweetgrass floated in the air Monday over a mostly sombre ceremony to reflect on the legacy of residential schools and remember those who survived — and the thousands who didn't.
Israel's widely expected ground invasion of Lebanon appeared to be getting underway early on Tuesday as its military said troops had begun 'limited' raids against Hezbollah targets in the border area.
Ottawa must do more to help Canadian citizens leave Lebanon, says the son of a Canadian couple killed last week when an Israeli bomb hit their car in the country's south.
Pete Rose, Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader who was banned from baseball for gambling on the game, has died at 83.
A B.C. condo owner who was blamed for a cockroach infestation in her building and charged thousands of dollars for the cost of eradicating the bugs must be refunded, the civil resolution tribunal ruled.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is asking members of the United Nations to counter growing political polarization abroad while taking shots at Conservative rhetoric at home.
Health Canada issued a recall last week for various sexual enhancement products for containing prescribed drugs like tadalafil and sildenafil.
TD Bank Group has agreed to pay more than US$28 million after an investigation into manipulation of the U.S. Treasuries market by one of its traders.
Sean "Diddy" Combs is appealing a federal judge's decision to keep him in jail while he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges.
A B.C. condo owner who was blamed for a cockroach infestation in her building and charged thousands of dollars for the cost of eradicating the bugs must be refunded, the civil resolution tribunal ruled.
Ottawa must do more to help Canadian citizens leave Lebanon, says the son of a Canadian couple killed last week when an Israeli bomb hit their car in the country's south.
Seas of orange shirts have come to represent a growing awareness of Canada's history of oppressing Indigenous Peoples – but that awareness must translate into more "substantive changes" from the government, according to a B.C. chief.
A child was sent to hospital after being attacked by a coyote in northwest Calgary.
Residential school survivors say the federal government is keeping the truth about those institutions in the dark by cutting back on funding for records and ground searches looking for unmarked graves of children who died at the schools.
He may not have logged the fastest time or even gone the full distance, but residents of a Newfoundland town agree the goat who unexpectedly joined the local weekend half marathon was the event's undisputed champion.
Donald Trump repeatedly spread falsehoods Monday about the federal response to Hurricane Helene despite claiming not to be politicizing the disaster as he toured hard-hit areas in south Georgia.
Israel's widely expected ground invasion of Lebanon appeared to be getting underway early on Tuesday as its military said troops had begun 'limited' raids against Hezbollah targets in the border area.
Authorities on Monday night ended a shelter-in-place order for more than 90,000 people east of Atlanta following a weekend chemical plant fire that sent a massive plume of dark smoke into the Georgia sky and led to complaints about a strong chemical smell and haze.
World leaders headed home from the United Nations with the prospect of a broader Middle East war intensifying and global divisions front and centre.
For the first time in Rwanda’s history, its health ministry is dealing with an outbreak of Marburg virus disease, a rare but deadly hemorrhagic disease similar to Ebola – but unlike Ebola, there is no treatment or vaccines for Marburg, and it has a fatality rate of 88 per cent.
A man who authorities say spent 12 hours camped outside Donald Trump's golf course before Secret Service spotted him with a rifle pleaded not guilty on Monday to federal charges including attempted assassination.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is asking members of the United Nations to counter growing political polarization abroad while taking shots at Conservative rhetoric at home.
The Liberal government is announcing more details on its existing strategy and funding to fight hate crimes.
Migrant groups are pushing the federal government to reverse its cap on international study permits and tightening post-graduate work permit qualifications, claiming it will leave many students 'in limbo.'
Health Canada issued a recall last week for various sexual enhancement products for containing prescribed drugs like tadalafil and sildenafil.
The family of Kendyl Smith-Trimm, a young girl who bravely battled cancer, has raised a staggering $66,500 in her memory for the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
The fertility rate in Canada reached an all-time low in 2023, and the lowest rate was recorded in British Columbia, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
The two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June welcomed their new ride home with Sunday's arrival of a SpaceX capsule.
The space rock — 2024 PT5 — was first spotted in August by astronomers at Complutense University of Madrid using a powerful telescope located in Sutherland, South Africa.
Canadian innovators and technical leaders gathered in Ottawa Thursday to demonstrate the latest cutting-edge technology.
The 50th season of “Saturday Night Live†is off to a strong ratings start and is a record-breaker for the streaming service Peacock.
A New Mexico judge on Monday denied 'Rust' armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed's request for new trial and upheld her involuntary manslaughter conviction for the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Oasis shocked fans by announcing a reunion tour last month, ending a 15-year hiatus and, presumably, the long-held feud between brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher. But those were only U.K. dates. On Monday, the band shared that they're planning on heading to North America in 2025, too.
TD Bank Group has agreed to pay more than US$28 million after an investigation into manipulation of the U.S. Treasuries market by one of its traders.
Three tobacco giants are yet again seeking to extend an order suspending legal proceedings against them, as they negotiate a settlement with creditors in a long-running case involving an order to pay out billions to some 100,000 smokers and their loved ones.
Dockworkers kicked off a three-day strike at the Port of Montreal on Monday, shutting down two terminals that handle more than 40 per cent of the container traffic at Canada's second-largest port.
Have you been caught in a bind, far from home, that could have been avoided with the timely purchase of an insurance package? We want to hear from you.
Kim Ruether lifted her son's eyelid and saw his still, dilated pupil staring at the ceiling as he lay on a stretcher in a northwestern Alberta hospital hallway a decade ago. She says she didn't need a doctor to tell her the boy was dead.
Many people consider eating less meat, be it for health, environmental or animal-welfare reasons. (Livestock accounts for nearly half of agricultural emissions fueling climate change.) But they sometimes hesitate because they are concerned about how they would replace all that lost protein.
Ryan Hunter's athleticism has been on full display since his arrival in the CFL, but the Canadian's versatility is now shining through.
Toronto Raptors team president Masai Ujiri tried to lay to rest rumours that he has friction with Edward Rogers, the executive chair of Rogers Communications, Inc.
Dikembe Mutombo, a Basketball Hall of Famer who was one of the best defensive players in NBA history and a longtime global ambassador for the game, died Monday after a battle with brain cancer, the league announced. He was 58.
General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle division will pay a US$1.5 million penalty after the unit failed to fully report a crash involving a pedestrian, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday.
A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.
A U.S. driver somehow squeezed her vehicle through a parkade hallway at a Metro Vancouver casino Thursday, before getting stuck at an elevator bank.
On Saturday night at her parents’ home in Delaware, Ont. the Olympic bronze medallist in pole vault welcomed everyone who played a role in getting her to the podium in Paris.
A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.
When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.
A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.
Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.
Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.
A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.
An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.
A fire in South Vancouver Monday completely destroyed one home and caused damage to two others, according to officials, who said no one was injured in the blaze.
The Department of National Defence is warning boaters to avoid a small island southwest of Victoria this week as the military conducts routine, but potentially dangerous, demolition training.
The New Democrats are campaigning for another term in British Columbia's provincial election but without many of the familiar faces that have graced lawn signs of elections past.
Those earning minimum wage in Ontario will now make more money per hour. The annual wage increase is tied to inflation and jumps to $17.20 per hour on Tuesday, marking a 3.9 per cent increase from the previous rate of $16.55 per hour.
One man suffered life-threatening injuries following a shooting in East York early Tuesday morning.
A shooting in North York has left one person with life-threatening injuries, Toronto paramedics say.
On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, hundreds took part in a walk in honour of an Indigenous man who died in police custody two weeks ago.
Five people were rushed to hospital after a gas well fire northwest of Calgary Monday afternoon.
The Calgary police homicide unit is investigating after two people were found dead in a home in the community of Penbrooke Meadows.
Health Canada has granted a three-year exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to one of Lowertown's safe consumption sites that will allow the facility to continue operating.
The smell of sage and sweetgrass floated in the air Monday over a mostly sombre ceremony to reflect on the legacy of residential schools and remember those who survived — and the thousands who didn't.
Ontario Provincial Police laid charges against an Ottawa driver after a child was found to not be wearing a seatbelt inside a vehicle early Sunday morning.
A 19-year-old man convicted of killing a Montreal teenager outside his school in October 2021 was sentenced to six years on Monday.
Several windows were damaged and spray painted with 'Free Gaza' during a protest at Concordia University Sunday night, Montreal police say.
A group of 23 bilingual municipalities are in Quebec Superior Court today to ask a judge to suspend the application of several portions of the province's 2022 language reform.
A pair of city events held on Monday, among several others in the region, helped residents mark the fourth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Kim Ruether lifted her son's eyelid and saw his still, dilated pupil staring at the ceiling as he lay on a stretcher in a northwestern Alberta hospital hallway a decade ago. She says she didn't need a doctor to tell her the boy was dead.
If you're struggling to find a name for your baby, you may find some inspiration in a new list of popular names.
More than a hundred people marched on Cape Breton’s Membertou First Nation on Monday – the fourth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Ottawa must do more to help Canadian citizens leave Lebanon, says the son of a Canadian couple killed last week when an Israeli bomb hit their car in the country's south.
He may not have logged the fastest time or even gone the full distance, but residents of a Newfoundland town agree the goat who unexpectedly joined the local weekend half marathon was the event's undisputed champion.
Thousands of Manitoba Hydro customers are without power Monday after strong winds barrelled through parts of the province overnight.
Residents in Tadoule Lake, Man., and Churchill can expect to see heavy rain trickle in Sunday afternoon, lingering until Monday evening.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen touched down in Winnipeg this week, ahead of his lunar mission set to launch in a year’s time.
Premier Scott Moe has confirmed that the writ will be dropped Tuesday morning – officially kicking off campaigning prior to the provincial election on Oct. 28.
A sea of orange shirts made up the crowd of several events in Regina on Monday. Orange Shirt Day is recognized nationally, to reflect on truth and reconciliation efforts across Canada.
With the writs expected to drop this week for the Saskatchewan general election, political experts say Scott Moe's Saskatchewan Party is on track for a fifth majority government but will lose seats to Carla Beck's NDP.
Communities across the country marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with events honouring survivors of residential schools and remembering those who never made it home.
An Etobicoke resident was taken to hospital after he told a Guelph Police officer he had been stabbed during Homecoming celebrations near the University of Guelph.
A woman has been charged as part of a murder investigation in Brantford.
Premier Scott Moe has confirmed that the writ will be dropped Tuesday morning – officially kicking off campaigning prior to the provincial election on Oct. 28.
Saskatoon gardeners should cover their plants overnight, as Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued a frost advisory on Monday afternoon.
A sea of orange, and the sound of song and drums filled SaskTel Centre on Monday as Saskatoon marked Truth and Reconciliation day at the Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) “Every Child Matters†powwow.
A 73-year-old man on a mobility scooter was killed Sunday night in Sudbury after being hit by a vehicle on Lasalle Boulevard and Barry Downe Road.
If you're struggling to find a name for your baby, you may find some inspiration in a new list of popular names.
A pedestrian has died after reportedly getting struck by an OPP cruiser in Bala early Sunday morning.
A pair of homes are destroyed on Penhale Avenue in St. Thomas, Ont. after an electrical fire set a garage ablaze Sunday night.
Students from three elementary schools in the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) were taking part in a day of learning on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The City of London is informing drivers about temporary road restrictions on Wellington Street as part of the Downtown Loop Phase 3 finishing work and surface paving.
The fourth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation saw plenty of community members gathering across Barrie on Monday, reflecting on the impacts of residential schools and honouring survivors.
A pedestrian has died after reportedly getting struck by an OPP cruiser in Bala early Sunday morning.
An early Sunday morning fire in Colgan that caused significant damage is under investigation.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized $11,000 US from an inbound American citizen at the Ambassador Bridge.
A section of Drouillard Road will close this week for an infrastructure renewal project.
The City of Windsor has unveiled plans for the “Park in Perfect Harmony†initiative in the downtown core.
The Department of National Defence is warning boaters to avoid a small island southwest of Victoria this week as the military conducts routine, but potentially dangerous, demolition training.
The New Democrats are campaigning for another term in British Columbia's provincial election but without many of the familiar faces that have graced lawn signs of elections past.
The residential “school†survivor whose story sparked Orange Shirt Day — and the “Every Child Matters†movement — says she is worried the cause is being forgotten.
Fire crews in Vernon, B.C., responded to a large house fire early Saturday morning.
A pair of runaway pigs are in the custody of an animal sanctuary in the Okanagan after evading police and volunteers for hours earlier this week.
The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
The sentencing for three men convicted of helping lead and coordinate the COVID-19 protest blockade at Coutts, Alta., in 2022 has been delayed.
A 10-year-old boy from Lethbridge is being praised as a hero after a routine summer outing at the pool nearly turned tragic for his friend.
A man and woman have been charged after a Lethbridge ice creamery was broken into earlier this week. Staff arrived at Cookie Crimes, in the 300 block of Sixth Street South, just before 5:30 a.m. on Monday to discover the front window broken.
Overnight on Thursday as the community of Elliot Lake was resting to prepare for the upcoming Kraft Hockeyville celebrations, when vandals struck a building that has been top of mind for the northern Ontario city for more than a year.
Ontario Provincial Police remind the public that ‘a case is never closed until it is solved,’ while highlighting the force's continued investigation of the 1996 disappearance of Melanie Ethier.
Sault residents may notice some commotion on the Algoma University campus over the next two weeks as a team conducts an archaeological search.
He may not have logged the fastest time or even gone the full distance, but residents of a Newfoundland town agree the goat who unexpectedly joined the local weekend half marathon was the event's undisputed champion.
A mother in a community where the cost of living is one of the highest in the country says grocery prices are 'inhumane' and retailers are putting profits ahead of people’s basic human right to food.
A soccer game in England on Tuesday night drove a spike in online traffic across the Atlantic to a website launched by the Newfoundland and Labrador government.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at Â鶹´«Ã½. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.
