The top courts in Texas and Ohio allowed the Republican-led states to enforce restrictions and bans on abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court last week overturned the nationwide constitutional right to abortion.
The Texas Supreme Court late on Friday allowed a nearly century-old ban to take effect, reversing a temporary restraining order a judge issued Tuesday that allowed the procedure to resume in the state up to the already-restricted six weeks of pregnancy.
The order, which allows the law to be enforced civilly but not criminally, came the same day the Ohio Supreme Court gave the state the go-ahead to enforce a 2019 ban on abortions at six weeks of pregnancy.
The dual orders came one week after the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court restored states' authority to ban abortions, triggering a flurry of lawsuits seeking to preserve the ability of women to terminate their own pregnancies.
Lawyers for the abortion clinics who challenged the 1925 ban vowed to continue fighting.
Since the Supreme Court erased the nearly 50-year precedent, abortion rights groups have challenged anti-abortion laws in 11 states, and judges in Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Utah have prevented restrictions or bans from being enforced.
Friday's orders came as two Democratic-controlled states, New York and New Jersey, moved to bolster abortion rights within their borders.
In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation designed to allow women who venture to the state seeking abortions to do so without fear of prosecution or civil litigation from their home states.
The New York Senate passed an amendment to the state constitution to codify the right to an abortion, as well as the right to contraception.
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