A Texas law imposing civil and criminal penalties on physicians who perform dilation and evacuation abortions during the second trimester of pregnancy without first ensuring the fetus is dead is valid, a fractured Fifth Circuit said Wednesday.
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated a lower court order permanently blocking Texas from enforcing the law, which prohibits doctors from performing an abortion solely by using forceps to separate and remove fetal tissue unless there is a medical emergency.
The law allows doctors to perform second-trimester abortions by using suction or a digoxin injection to cause fetal ...