Today the Supreme Court of the United States released its much anticipated ruling on the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, the Texas Heartbeat Act (SB8). SB8 prohibits abortion when a baby’s heartbeat is detected which is generally at six weeks.

Today’s 8-1 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson leaves SB8 in place for now, but allows abortion providers to return to the U.S. District Court which previously blocked the law on the grounds that it violates the constitutional right to abortion. Justice Clarence Thomas was the sole dissenting Justice who asserted that the lawsuit against Texas officials should not be allowed to continue. (Read the SCOTUS Opinion HERE.)

The decision resumes the legal battle that has characterized the highly controversial Texas Heartbeat Act in effect since September 1 when conservative Supreme Court Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett let it stand. These same Justices rejected this renewed request to block the law.

In the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch emphasized that the Court’s decision was limited to the procedural merits and did not address whether the Texas Heartbeat Act is constitutional.

Chief Justice John Roberts was joined by liberal Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part. Chief Justice Roberts wrote: “Given the ongoing chilling effect of the state law, the District Court should resolve this litigation and enter appropriate relief without delay.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayer wrote a scathing opinion on the high court’s refusal to block SB8: “The Court should have put an end to this madness months ago, before SB8 first went into effect.”

The case will presumably now return to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman who previously rejected Texas officials’ request to dismiss the lawsuit brought by abortion providers to block enforcement of SB8.

SCOTUS dismissed the Biden Administration’s challenge to the Texas Heartbeat Act. That case will now return to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to determine whether the Biden Administration has proper standing for the lawsuit in federal court.

We continue to be thankful to God that for now unborn babies in Texas with a detectable heartbeat will be protected. An estimated 10,000 babies in Texas have been saved since the Heartbeat Act went into effect.

Please join us as we pray for:

  • Many unborn babies’ lives to be saved by the continued enforcement of the Texas Heartbeat Act.
  • Abortion-minded and determined women in Texas to seek care from life-affirming pregnancy resource centers in our state rather than traveling to other states like Oklahoma, Louisiana and Kansas to terminate their pregnancies.
  • Abortion clinics in Texas to be forced to close.
  • Hearts and minds of abortion providers and proponents determined to strike down the Texas Heartbeat Act and other abortion restrictive laws to be transformed to value and love every unborn child.
  • The U.S. Supreme Court Justices to see clearly the irrefutable humanity of the unborn and that innocent life in the womb should be protected from the unspeakable horror and barbaric practice of abortion.
  • The case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization now before SCOTUS addressing the constitutionality of Mississppi’s Gestational Age Act that prohibits abortion after 15 weeks to overturn Roe v. Wade.
  • The more than 63 million babies that have been aborted in the United States since the nearly 50 yer old Roe decision came down.
  • God’s protection over our country, state and government and judicial leaders and ALL who courageously stand for the unborn.