Supreme Court blocks restrictive Texas abortion clinic rules

The Supreme Court order will remain in effect at least until the court decides whether to hear the clinics' appeal of the lower court ruling. The decision will not come before the fall. 

The court's ruling to block the regulations is a strong indication that the justices will hear the full appeal, which could be the biggest abortion case at the Supreme Court in nearly 25 years.

If the court steps in, the hearing and the eventual ruling would come amid the 2016 presidential campaign season.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas would have allowed the state to move ahead with regulations requiring that abortion facilities be constructed like surgical centers. Doctors at all clinics also would need to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

The clinics said enforcing the new regulations would lead to a second major wave of clinic closures statewide in recent years. Texas had 41 abortion clinics in 2012; 19 remain.

The regulations would have left the state with no clinic west of San Antonio. Only one would have been able to operate on a limited basis in the Rio Grande Valley.

In November 2013, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that four justices probably would want to review the constitutionality of the regulations.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who earlier this month announced his bid for the White House, released a statement on the ruling Monday saying, “The Supreme Court’s stay unnecessarily puts lives in danger by allowing unsafe facilities to continue to perform abortions."

I am confident the court will ultimately uphold these common-sense measures to protect the health and safety of Texas women,” he added.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press