Earl Leroy Yeakel III

On October 28, 2013, Yeakel ruled that abortion restrictions enacted by the state of Texas were unconstitutional, in the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt.[2] Yeakel wrote: "The admitting-privileges provision of House Bill 2 does not bear a rational relationship to the legitimate right of the state in preserving and promoting fetal life or a woman’s health and, in any event, places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus and is thus an undue burden to her."[3] Three days later, Yeakel's order was mostly overturned by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans[4] The part of the law requiring doctors in abortion facilities have admitting privileges at local hospitals was unanimously reinstated by the panel.[4] Only one part of Yeakel's order remained and that part was where the order prevents the state from enforcing the FDA protocol for abortion-inducing drugs in cases where the woman is between 50 and 63 days into her pregnancy.[4] On August 29, 2014, in response to a second lawsuit, Judge Yeakel ruled again that abortion restrictions in Texas H. B. 2 imposed an "undue burden" upon women seeking pre-viability abortions and upon abortion providers, and declared several provisions of the law unconstitutional.

Yeakel's rulings were upheld by the United States Supreme Court in June 2016.

In March 2020, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that abortion providers were covered by a state order that required postponement of non-urgent medical procedures to preserve hospital beds and equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 30, 2020, Yeakel ruled that Paxton's action “prevents Texas women from exercising what the Supreme Court has declared is their fundamental constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus is viable".[5] On March 31, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a stay of Judge Yeakel's ruling.[6]

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans on April 7, 2020 has overturned the decision of a lower court and affirmed the state's right to ban elective abortions during the current crisis situation.[7]