Doctors, States Back Abortion Providers in Redo of Texas Suit

Texas’ restrictions on dilation and evacuation abortion must be stricken, several doctors, states, and constitutional law scholars told the Fifth Circuit in briefs supporting providers’ challenge to a law barring the procedure unless a doctor first ensures “fetal demise.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is rehearing the case en banc after withdrawing an earlier opinion in which a split panel affirmed a lower court ruling that held the law unconstitutional.

The panel’s majority called the fetal demise requirement an “invasive, additional step” that isn’t part of a typical D&E procedure. But dissenting Judge Don R. Willett ...