[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Tuesday placed a hold on a Texas law that would have forced several abortion clinics to close. The bill [HB 2] requires any physician performing an abortion to have active admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the location where the abortion is performed and requires that all abortion clinics existing on or after September 1, 2014, comply with the same minimum standards required of ambulatory surgical centers. As a result of the law, all but eight abortion clinics in the state were forced to close [AP report]. The unsigned order, which blocks parts of the 2013 law and suspends a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website], will allow [NYT report] more than a dozen clinics to reopen. No explanation of the justices’ reasoning was included in the short order.

Texas reproductive-rights [JURIST backgrounder] supporters and opponents have a protracted history [JURIST news archive] of battling in the state and federal courts. Earlier this month the Fifth Circuit partially stayed an injunction [JURIST report] blocking enforcement of HB 2. In April the Center for Reproductive Rights [advocacy website] announced [JURIST report] its filing of a lawsuit against HB 2. The Fifth Circuit had, a month prior, upheld [JURIST report] these two provisions on a challenge from Planned Parenthood [advocacy website]. In November 2013 the Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] to allow HB2 to remain in effect while under review by the Fifth Circuit. The bill was signed [JURIST report] by Governor Rick Perry in July 2013.