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The Supreme Court has placed a stay on a lower court's ruling that upheld new abortion standards in Texas, to give opponents of a controversial 2013 law time to take their case to the nation's highest court. The stay is temporary: If the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case, the stay will be lifted and the law will take effect. If the justices agree to hear the case, the stay would remain in effect until a ruling is issued. (Chappell, 6/29)

The case concerns two parts of a state law that imposes strict requirements on abortion providers. One requires all abortion clinics in the state to meet the standards for “ambulatory surgical centers,” including regulations concerning buildings, equipment and staffing. The other requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. (Liptak and Fernandez, 6/29)

On Monday, abortion rights activists and providers heaved a sigh of relief that what they deem to be politically motivated and dangerous intrusions into women’s lives have been put on hold. Texas officials vowed to keep fighting a decision by the highest court that Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton said “just put Texas women in harm’s way. (Savage and La Ganga, 6/29)

Supporters of the law say every woman deserves good medical care whatever the procedure. “While we hope that she would not be compelled to choose abortion, we hope that her life would of course not be at risk should she choose to do that,” said Emily Horne of Texas Right to Life. “Pro-life does not just mean care for the life of the unborn child, it’s care for the life of the woman undergoing the abortion as well.” (Feibel, 6/30)

Since the Texas law was passed, the number of clinics operating in the state fell from 41 to 19, abortion-rights supporters said. Of the remaining 19, at least 10 might have closed by July 1, they said, had the court not issued its order Monday. Instead, all 19 will stay open, and some of the closed clinics may be able to reopen. (Bravin, 6/29)

Until the nation's highest court intervened, only abortion facilities in the Houston, Austin, San Antonio and the Dallas-Fort Worth areas remained open. And none was left along the Texas-Mexico border or outside any of the state's largest urban areas. (6/29)

The court did not offer a reason for its 5-to-4 decision, and the law’s ultimate fate remains unclear. The court’s reliably conservative justices — Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. — dissented and would have let the law take effect. (Somashekhar, 6/29)

The soonest the justices could decide whether to take the case would be when they come back into session in October, CRR attorney Stephanie Toti said. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott expressed confidence Monday afternoon that the Supreme Court will ultimately uphold the law. (Villacorta and Haberkorn, 6/29)

Attorneys for the abortion providers said that the Supreme Court's order also blocked the state from enforcing a separate provision of the law that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion clinic. The Supreme Court restored a lower court's ruling striking down both provisions of the law statewide, the attorneys said. (Ura, 6/29)

This is the second time that the Supreme Court has stepped in to temporarily halt pieces of the 2013 law, which activists say gives them hope that the court will eventually overturn lower courts' decision to uphold the law. "We think it’s a strong possiblity that the court will take this case," said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. (Ferris, 6/29)

Abortion providers cheered a move by the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily block part of a Texas law that would have closed more than half the state's 19 remaining abortion clinics. Now they are studying whether it could also allow them to reopen some previously shuttered facilities and whether that would even be feasible. (Vertuno, 6/29)