RULED OUT

Trump-Appointed Judge Blocks Federal Emergency Abortion Guidance in Texas

James Wesley Hendrix ruled that the HHS guidance was “unauthorized.”

A federal judge in Texas late on Tuesday blocked new guidance requiring the state’s hospitals to provide emergency abortions despite state-level bans. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix in Lubbock—who was nominated for his seat by Donald Trump in 2019—said the guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services was “unauthorized” and was outside of the scope of a federal law designed to provide emergency medical care for the poor and uninsured. Hendrix’s ruling stopped the HHS from enforcing its interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act in Texas as well as against two anti-abortion groups of doctors. The HHS guidance came about after President Biden signed an executive order in July attempting to protect access to abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, ending the federal right to an abortion.