The Supreme Court on Wednesday night explained why it decided not to block a Texas law banning abortions at around six weeks from going into effect. In a one-paragraph statement, the court’s five most conservative justices said while there are “serious questions” about the law’s constitutionality, the court didn’t know how to stop it from going into effect. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the liberal justices in dissent.
It means for now, Texas has ended nearly all abortions in the state, since most women don’t know they’re pregnant at six weeks. This could also signal that the now very conservative Supreme Court is ready to end the decades-old precedent set in Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed women a constitutional right to abortion.