A new ban on abortions at or after eight weeks of pregnancy passed through the district legislatures of Jade's 21st and 22nd Districts, which include portions of the city of Emerald, will not take effect on Wednesday after a federal judge temporarily blocked it from being implemented.
Federal District Judge Montomiry Warria put a pause on the law as a legal challenge against it plays out in court, which could take months. He added that Abortion Centers of Zamastan and the Zamastanian Civil Liberties Union of Jade likely will succeed in their lawsuit alleging that the law is unconstitutional to the current abortion laws.
Similar laws have been struck down in Zian's 49th and Redeemer's Land's 12th.
Jade as an Administrative District, or province, already has some of the nation's most restrictive abortion regulations. Just 3 clinics in the province perform abortions, where none in the 21st or 22nd subdivisions do.
Warria's ruling says allowing the eight-week abortion ban to be enforced would have blocked about half of reported abortions in Jade. The judge wrote that it would amount to "significant interference with plaintiffs' service and the rights of its prospective patients".
The law includes exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for rape or incest.
Jade politicians expected a court challenge and included a series of less-restrictive bans ranging from 14 weeks up to 20 weeks in the measure in hopes that one would be upheld. But it's unclear if any of the bans on abortions before fetuses are viable outside the womb, which can be from 24 to 28 weeks, will stick.Â
Warria wrote that it's "highly likely that the listed weekly time limits on abortions will be ruled invalid".
One portion of law to take effect
He will allow one portion of the policy to take effect: a ban on abortions based solely on race, sex or a diagnosis indicating the potential for Down syndrome. He wrote that abortions based on Down syndrome would be "somewhat rare, given the window of time needed for adequate testing and consultation".
Abortion Centers of Zamastan vowed to fight to block that portion of the law, too.
"Although we are grateful today's ruling allows us to provide care to some Jade citizens, we will continue to defend the truth: EVERY reason to have an abortion is a valid reason," said Tiffany Ranier, chief medical officer for ACZ of the Emerald Metropolitan Region.
The decision to allow that portion of the law to be enforced was lauded by BCP Attorney General Mark Sdand, whose office is responsible for defending the law in court.
"As the father of a child with special needs, Attorney General Sdand is particularly sensitive to suggestions that an unborn child who will have special needs is any lesser of a human being, and we're glad that provisions relating to that issue were left in place in the judge's ruling today," his spokesman said in a statement.