Texas abortion ban temporarily blocked by judge

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A judge in Houston, Texas, temporarily blocked the state's pre-Roe v. Wade ban on abortion from taking effect Tuesday.

The Harris County judge issued a temporary restraining order after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the state arguing that the pre-Roe abortion ban was "repealed and unenforceable." The law is separate from the abortion "trigger law" Texas passed in 2021, which is expected to take effect in roughly two months.

Attorney General Ken Paxton explained last week that the trigger law is written to take effect 30 days after a U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe. While the Court issued its opinion on Friday, the official judgment is not expected to come down for roughly 25 days, meaning the trigger law will take effect in two months.

Paxton announced in a statement that Texas abortion providers could still face criminal penalties in the interim due to a pre-Roe law banning virtually all abortions, and it is that law the ACLU is challenging.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt talk to reporters after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in their case about Title 42 on April 26, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The ACLU argues that the law has been effectively repealed for decades and cannot be used to criminalize abortion in the two months before the trigger law takes effect.

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"If plaintiffs are successful in blocking enforcement of the pre-Roe ban, some abortion providers in the state would resume abortion care up to six weeks, providing critical, if temporary, relief for Texans with a very early pregnancy as access to abortion has been decimated across the southern United States," the ACLU wrote in a statement.

Crowds outside the Supreme Court reacting to the Dobbs ruling. (Joshua Comins/Fox News)

Paxton's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

The temporary restraining order blocks the ban until a hearing on July 12, at which point the judge will determine whether to extend it.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis)

The order comes one day after another judge in Louisiana temporarily blocked that state's abortion trigger law from taking effect. The lawsuit in that case argues the legislation is overly vague on when it takes effect.

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In addition to Texas and Louisiana, ten other states have abortion trigger laws on the books.