A divided Supreme Court will allow Texas’ new abortion ban to stay in force, declining early Thursday to block the law. The split was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining Justices Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor in the dissent. In rejecting an emergency appeal from abortion providers to block SB8, which took effect Wednesday and bans abortion in Texas after six weeks of pregnancy, the court is allowing most women in the state to be stripped of their right to obtain an abortion before they even know they are pregnant.
