NIRH Applauds Temporary Block of Extreme Texas Abortion Ban 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2021
Contact: Kelly Novak, [email protected] 

NEW YORK — The National Institute for Reproductive Health praises the temporary block of Texas’s 6-week, civilly-enforced abortion ban, the most draconian abortion restriction in the country. Since going into effect on September 1, thousands of people have been turned away from abortion clinics in Texas.   

Last night, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman granted an emergency request from the Justice Department, nothing that people seeking abortion care “have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution” and “this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.” While providers work to continue care in accordance with the injunction, this was a rightful and just decision by Judge Pitman.  

“This horrific abortion ban should never have been law in the first place, and we are grateful that even a temporary reprieve was issued,” said Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health. “While we continue the long fight for reproductive freedom across the country, we are grateful that at least for the moment, people seeking abortion care in Texas have greater access, without fear that dangerous lawsuits will rob them of their reproductive autonomy.” 

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The National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) works to protect and advance just and equitable access to reproductive health care. Our strategy is to go on the offensive to pass laws that safeguard reproductive freedom. NIRH builds coalitions, launches campaigns, and successfully advocates for policy change in partnership with state and local reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations and allied groups. We work together so that the fabric of reproductive freedom is harder to tear apart.