The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a challenge on Friday by the Department of Justice on Texas’ strict abortion law, allowing the law to stay in place, but did allow abortion doctors to sue over the ban.  

The law in question bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which is after most women know they’re pregnant. The law also allows private individuals to sue abortion providers who perform the procedure.   

 “The Court concludes that the petitioners may pursue a pre-enforcement challenge against certain of the named defendants but not others,” the court, led by Justice Neil Gorsuch, wrote in his opinion.   

There wasn’t much discussion on if SCOTUS should block the law while it makes its way through the courts, according to Fox News. Chief Justice John Roberts did join the three liberal justices in allowing lawsuits to go forward.   

“The nature of the federal right infringed does not matter; it is the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system that is at stake,” he said.   

Justice Sotomayor, who was the sole dissent in the second case—U.S. v. Texas—said, “The Court should have put an end to this madness months ago … It failed to do so then, and it fails again today,” NPR reported.  

Abortion rights activists say the fate of the landmark Roe v. Wade hangs in the balance as the Supreme Court began hearing arguments this month to overturn the ruling stemming from Mississippi’s strict abortion law.   

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