Federal judges in 3 states block orders limiting abortion access over coronavirus

Federal judges in Alabama, Ohio and Texas have blocked orders banning nonessential medical procedures from limiting abortion access during the coronavirus outbreak, a win for abortion rights activists as the fight over abortion rights intersects with the worsening pandemic.

“Because Alabama law imposes time limits on when women can obtain abortions, the March 27 order is likely to fully prevent some women from exercising their right to obtain an abortion,” federal Judge Myron Thompson, from the Middle District of Alabama, wrote Monday. He temporarily halted the order, issued by the state’s Health Department earlier this month, until April 13.

“And for those women who, despite the mandatory postponement, are able to vindicate their right, the required delay may pose an undue burden that is not justified by the State’s purported rationales,” he added.

CNN has reached out to the offices of Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall, both of whom are Republicans, for comment.

Addressing the complaint filed by Alabama abortion providers and national abortion rights groups earlier Monday, Marshall asserted that it was prompted because “the State refused to grant abortion clinics a blanket exemption.”

Dr. Yashica Robinson, an Alabama OB/ob-gyn and plaintiff in the case, said Monday that she was “thrilled” by the ruling and slammed the state order as “an attempt to attack access to essential health care under the guise of pandemic response.”

The Alabama ruling was the third decision on Monday pausing state orders that could restrict abortion access.

Federal Judge Michael Barrett in the Southern District of Ohio wrote Monday that the Ohio Department of Health’s order halting nonessential procedures “likely places an ‘undue burden’ on a woman’s right to choose a pre-viability abortion, and thus violates her right to privacy guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.” He added that “its enforcement would, per se, inflict irreparable harm.”

Ohio abortion providers and abortion rights advocates filed a complaint Monday after Ohio Attorney General David Yost’s office sent letters earlier this month to three abortion providers directing them to comply with the order.

“Defendant Yost’s statements and order in those letters, without more guidance, implicate Plaintiffs’ patients’ Fourteenth Amendment rights,” Barrett wrote in an order later that day, adding that “plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on the merits” of their claims.

Chrisse France — executive director of Preterm, one of the clinics that received a letter from Yost’s office — said she was “relieved” by the ruling, adding that “everyone deserves to have access to safe, timely care and a delay of only a few weeks can make abortion completely inaccessible.”

Yost said in a statement that “the only reason for the Health Department’s order” was “to save lives in light of the COVID-19 public health emergency.” He added that the state would “take the course of action that will most quickly achieve that goal — be it an emergency appeal, a trial on the preliminary injunction, a more specifically drawn order, or other remedy.”

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s office declined to comment.

Hours before Barrett’s ruling in Ohio, another temporary block was handed down in Texas — the first from a federal judge in a flurry of similar lawsuits in other states.

“The attorney general’s interpretation of the Executive Order prevents Texas women from exercising what the Supreme Court has declared is their fundamental constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus is viable,” Federal Judge Lee Yeakel in the Western District of Texas wrote in an order earlier Monday.

Last week, Texas abortion providers, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights sued state officials for including abortions among nonessential surgical procedures that must be deferred or canceled to focus on the coronavirus pandemic.

Yeakel, a George W. Bush nominee, suggested the issue might head to the Supreme Court on an emergency basis. He would “not speculate on whether the Supreme Court included a silent ‘except-in-a-national-emergency clause'” in its previous rulings on abortion.

“The court will not predict what the Supreme Court will do if this case reaches that Court,” Yeakel said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton confirmed last week that “any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother” was included in Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that health care providers “postpone all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately medically necessary” to preserve a patient’s life or condition.

Paxton later accused his legal challengers of “withholding desperately needed supplies and personal protective equipment in favor of a procedure that they refer to as a ‘choice.'” He asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to allow the executive order blocking elective abortions to go into effect.

Yeakel, however, has said “the benefits of a limited potential reduction in the use of some personal protective equipment by abortion providers is outweighed by the harm of eliminating abortion access in the midst of a pandemic that increases the risks of continuing an unwanted pregnancy, as well as the risks of travelling to other states in search of time-sensitive medical care.”

“For some patients, such a delay will deprive them of any access to abortion,” he added, noting that the abortion rights groups had a high likelihood of success in the challenge based on the merits of the case. Yeakel said that the order will last until April 13, the same day as the hearing when he will consider another temporary ban.

CNN has reached out to Abbott’s office for comment.

Plaintiffs cheered the ruling, with Planned Parenthood Acting President Alexis McGill Johnson urging Abbott to align his priorities with those of her organization to ensure “that every person can access essential health care while conserving needed resources during this time of a global pandemic.”

Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement Monday that the ruling in the Texas lawsuit “sends a message to other states: Using this pandemic to ban abortion access is unconstitutional. Abortion care is time-sensitive and essential health care that has a profound impact on a person’s health and life, which is why it is protected as a constitutional right.”

But on Tuesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision and allowed the order blocking elective abortions during the coronavirus pandemic to remain in effect for now.

In Tuesday’s 2-1 decision, the appeals court said it wants to give itself “sufficient time” to consider an emergency petition filed by Paxton, and has ordered more briefings in the case.

While Texas was the first state to face a legal challenge over including elective abortions in nonessential surgeries limited under the pandemic, it is no longer the only such state.

Planned Parenthood and state abortion providers filed four challenges — in Iowa and Oklahoma — on Monday against state officials over similar orders. Other states, including Mississippi and Kentucky, have also opted to include abortions among nonessential surgeries limited during the coronavirus response.

This story has been updated to include a federal judge’s order in Ohio and Alabama, as well as Texas’ appeal.