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UNITED STATES v. TEXAS 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 
Opinion of SOTOMAYOR, J. 

constitutional  rights  of  women  seeking  abortion  care  in 
Texas.  For the second time, the Court declines to act im-
mediately to protect these women from grave and irrepara-
ble harm. 
  The Court is right to calendar this application for argu-
ment and to grant certiorari before judgment in both this 
case and Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, No. 21–463, in 
recognition  of  the  public  importance  of  the  issues  these 
cases raise.  The promise of future adjudication offers cold 
comfort, however, for Texas women seeking abortion care, 
who are entitled to relief now.  These women will suffer per-
sonal harm from delaying their medical care, and as their 
pregnancies  progress,  they  may  even  be  unable  to  obtain 
abortion care altogether.  Because every day the Court fails 
to  grant  relief  is  devastating,  both  for  individual  women 
and for our constitutional system as a whole, I dissent from 
the  Court’s  refusal to stay  administratively  the  Fifth  Cir-
cuit’s order. 

I 
  Texas Senate Bill 8 (S. B. 8 or the Act) imposes a near-
categorical  ban  on  abortions  beginning  six  weeks  after  a 
woman’s  last  menstrual  period,  before  many  women  even 
realize they are pregnant.  Whole Woman’s Health v. Jack-
son, 594 U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting).  
This is patently unconstitutional.  See, e.g., June Medical 
Services  L.  L.  C.  v.  Russo,  591  U. S.  ___,  ___  (2020) 
(ROBERTS,  C. J.,  concurring 
judgment);  Planned 
Parenthood  of  Southeastern  Pa.  v.  Casey,  505  U. S.  833 
(1992); Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113 (1973).  Rather than au-
thorizing state officials to enforce this illegal law, the Act 
deputizes  ordinary  citizens  as  bounty  hunters,  offering 
$10,000 in damages (plus attorney’s fees and costs) to any-
one who sues a person who provides an abortion in violation 
of  S.  B.  8,  “aids  or  abets”  such  an  abortion,  or  intends  to 
engage in such conduct.  Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. 

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