"We are moving forward," said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health Services. "Today's mandate cleared the way for immediate enforcement, so we are quickly working toward full implementation and hope to have all the pieces in place in the coming weeks."
In August, just before the law was set to take effect September 1, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks in Austin found several portions of the law "unconstitutionally vague" and ruled that it violated the First Amendment by compelling doctors and patients to engage in government-mandated speech.
But the three-judge panel vacated Sparks' injunction against enforcing the law, saying opponents did not prove that it violated the Constitution.
As written, the law would require women seeking an abortion in Texas to view a picture of the embryo or fetus and hear a description of its development before having the procedure.
Sparks' injunction temporarily blocked Texas from enforcing any penalties against a doctor who failed to place sonogram pictures where a pregnant woman may see them or who does not make the fetus' heartbeat audible. It also blocked penalties against the woman.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Pennsylvania case "held that the fact that such truthful, accurate information may cause a woman to choose not to abort her pregnancy only reinforces its relevance to an informed decision," U.S. Circuit Judge Patrick Higginbotham wrote in a concurring opinion. "Insisting that a doctor give this information in his traditional role of securing informed consent is permissible."
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican presidential candidate, praised the panel's ruling Tuesday. "We will continue to fight any attempt to limit our state's laws that value and protect the unborn," he said.
