Justice Department Asks Supreme Court to Block Texas Abortion Law

Oct. 19, 2021

The Department of Justice has filed a quick requesting the U.S. Supreme Court briefly block a extremely restrictive abortion legislation in Texas.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has requested officers in Texas to file a response to the Justice Department by midday Thursday, which means the High Court could act extra shortly than regular, The New York Times reported.

The Justice Department additionally requested the Supreme Court to hurry up the method and handle the Texas legislation’s constitutionality this calendar 12 months, The Times mentioned. If that occurs, an appeals courtroom listening to scheduled for December can be bypassed.

The Texas legislation went into impact Sept. 1 and prohibits abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is normally round 6 weeks.

The Justice Department temporary mentioned the legislation “virtually eliminated access to abortion in Texas after six weeks of pregnancy. Texas has, in short, successfully nullified this court’s decisions within its borders.”

The Supreme Court legalized abortion with the Roe vs. Wade determination in 1972. Since then, the Justice Department temporary mentioned, the courtroom has dominated many occasions that “a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability” – usually accepted as 22-24 weeks into the being pregnant.

The Texas legislation “defies those precedents by banning abortion long before viability — indeed, before many women even realize they are pregnant,” the temporary mentioned.

The legislation additionally has an uncommon function that enables a citizen of Texas to carry civil fits towards anybody who helps a pregnant individual looking for an abortion, if solely by giving them a journey to a clinic.

A couple of days after the legislation went into impact, President Joe Biden mentioned he would launch a wide-reaching federal effort to overturn the “bizarre” statute.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined by a 5-4 vote Sept. 1 to behave on emergency appeals to place the legislation on maintain. A federal choose in Texas dominated Oct. 6 that enforcement of the brand new legislation could possibly be halted whereas it really works its means by means of courtroom. But the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 14 dominated that the legislation can stay in impact whereas it’s litigated.