Judges Jones, Elrod, and Haynes upheld Texas' restriction on medication abortions to 49 days as opposed to 63, and its requirement that abortionists have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. One particularly interesting point is that the 49-day restriction on medication abortions does not have a
health of the mother exception. This common exception, which really swallows any limit on abortions by covering subjective assertions of psychological health, may be losing its staying power. In
Gonzales v. Carhart the Supreme Court upheld the partial-birth abortion ban despite no health exception, and the 5th Cir. has helped cement that holding by citing
Gonzales in upholding Texas' abortion limitation despite its having no health exception.
Read the full opinion
here.