Last month a federal judge overturned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to include abortions in his order to postpone all nonessential surgeries. The judge ruled that suspending abortion services was in violation of Roe v. Wade. Abbot and Attorney General Ken Paxton both argued that abortions were not medically necessary. Paxton, furious with the decision, threatened to appeal in order to “protect the health of Texans suffering from this COVID-19 crisis.” Hours after the ruling made by Federal Judge Lee Yeakel, Texas’ temporary abortion ban went back into effect on March 31. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals then issued a temporary stay order reinforcing the order, saying abortions were only permissible if they are deemed “medically necessary to preserve the life or health” of a patient.

Advocacy and pro-choice organizations, including Planned Parenthood, then came together in a weekend filing to the Supreme Court in which abortion providers requested pill-induced abortions be allowed as the legal battle continues. Lawyers called the state’s ban “the most restrictive abortion policy in the nation,” which has led to hundreds of women being turned away or denied their rights statewide. According to The Texas Tribune, hundreds of abortions across the state have been canceled since state officials first banned abortion procedures in which the pregnancy was not life-threatening. Women are not only being forced to experience economic and physical hardships but “undertake risky and expensive travel to other states where abortion is still available,” the filing alleged.

The filling also argued that traveling during the current pandemic would increase the risks of transmission. According to The Washington Post, patients who have been turned away in Texas have sought abortions out of state. This puts not only the person seeking the abortion at risk but those who come in contact with her.

Texas’ back and forth on banning and legalizing abortions during this pandemic has caused uncertainty among women and advocates alike. Texas is the sixth state in the country to attempt to ban abortions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Abortion bans are unconstitutional and force women to not only risk their health in efforts to find safe methods of abortion, but force them to delay time-essential and critical procedures. State officials are using the issue of a lack of PPE to promote a corrupt agenda of anti-abortion policies that put the lives of thousands at risk.

Abortion access is essential and a basic right. Policies that ban or limit abortion do not help decrease the number of abortions in a country; they only increase the potential for the use of unsafe methods and the likelihood of trauma during a crisis. "While people try and navigate their new realities under a pandemic -- job loss, quarantining with abusive partners, or still having to work essential jobs -- we need more abortion access, not less. This fight is far from over," Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, told CNN.