A Texas federal judge ruled Friday that the state cannot mandate healthcare providers to bury or cremate fetuses, saying in his ruling the proposed law was vague, imposed an undue burden on providers and carried potential for irreparable harm, according to The Texas Tribune.
U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks also wrote in his ruling that Texas had proposed the new rule "before the ink on the Supreme Court's opinion in Whole Woman's Health was dry," according to the report. The Supreme Court decided in a 5-3 vote in June to reverse two provisions in a Texas law that justices said "placed a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking an abortion, constitute an undue burden on abortion access, and therefore violate the Constitution." One of these laws required physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and required abortion clinics in the state to have facilities comparable to an ASC.
Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which sued Texas in December to stop the rule, said Judge Sparks' decision shows that the law is "unnecessary, unconstitutionally vague and manifestly insulting to women," she said in a statement, according to the report.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a news release that his office plans to appeal the decision, adding that Judge Sparks' ruling "reaffirms that the abortion lobby has grown so extreme that it will reject any and every regulation no matter how sensible," according to the report.