[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Texas [official website] granted a temporary restraining order [text, PDF] Thursday, blocking Texas officials from enforcing a ban on the most common second trimester abortion procedure. The ban that was halted by Judge Lee Yeakel [official profile] originates in Senate Bill 8 [text] and would have taken effect Friday. The judge found that the state’s arguments to prevent the restraining order unpersuasive and to possess a “thin record.” “The State’s interest notwithstanding, this court finds no authority for holding that government-mandated medically unnecessary, untested, or a more invasive procedure, or a more complicated and risky procedure with no proven medical benefits over the safe and commonly used banned procedure, is a permissible means of regulating previability abortions.”

Abortion remains a contentious issue around the world. Earlier this month Chile’s Constitutional Court [official website, in Spanish] approved legislation [JURIST report] that would legalize abortion in certain circumstances. In June the UN Human Rights Committee [official website] found [JURIST report] that Ireland must remedy harm done to a woman in 2010 after denying her an abortion. The Delaware legislature [official website] approved a bill [JURIST report] in June that guarantees access to abortion.