Updated at 3:50 p.m. ET
In a win for abortion rights advocates, a federal appeals court says medication abortions can proceed in Texas.
Republican state officials are as part of an order prohibiting nonessential procedures during the coronavirus pandemic. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have argued that abortion should be considered nonessential and suspended as part of an effort to conserve medical supplies.
In a , a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit says that medication abortions should be permitted. That early in pregnancy to cause what is essentially a medically induced miscarriage. The court found that the state of Texas had not sufficiently demonstrated that medication abortions are the type of procedure covered by the governor's order. Reproductive rights groups say the technique does not require the use of the personal protective equipment, or PPE, needed by healthcare workers treating coronavirus patients.
The court with state officials seeking to ban abortions. Under an earlier ruling, most surgical abortions are still prohibited in Texas, except for emergencies or pregnancies nearing the state's 22-week cutoff. Abortion providers report that are being turned away.
Texas is one of where legal challenges are underway after Republican officials have tried to ban abortions during the pandemic. Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the matter, but a Planned Parenthood spokeswoman told NPR Tuesday that the group was withdrawing the motion in response to the Fifth Circuit's ruling allowing medication abortions to proceed.
In Tennessee, abortion rights groups have challenging Gov. Bill Lee's in that state. Similar lawsuits also have been filed this week in and .
Groups opposed to abortion rights to urge abortion providers to shut down and to ensure that access to medication abortion is not expanded. Reproductive rights groups have called for in an effort to make abortion more accessible via telemedicine during the pandemic.
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