Abortion: the Department of Justice is preparing a legal challenge to Texas law



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The official declined to say on what basis the lawsuit would be based, but lawyers for the department were challenged to find a potential legal remedy.

An official announcement is expected on Thursday.

The Justice Department explored legal avenues to challenge Texas ‘six-week abortion ban after the U.S. Supreme Court last week rejected a clinics’ request to prevent it from coming into force of the law.

Texas law was designed specifically for the purpose of making it more difficult for clinics to obtain orders from federal courts blocking law enforcement. Instead of creating criminal penalties for abortions performed after a fetal heartbeat is detected, the Texas legislature tasked private citizens with enforcing the law by bringing private lawsuits against clinics – and anyone else who helps a woman get an abortion after six weeks.

Protesters march from City Hall to the Federal Courthouse to protest the state's new abortion ban in Houston, Texas on September 5, 2021.

Since the law came into effect, clinics in Texas have either stopped offering abortions after six weeks, or have closed their doors altogether.

In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court majority wrote that although the clinics raised “serious questions about the constitutionality of Texas law,” they had not encountered a burden that would allow the court to block it. at this time due to “complex” and “new” procedural issues.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged Monday to protect abortion clinics in Texas by enforcing federal law that prohibits threatening patients seeking reproductive health services and obstructing clinic entrances.

“The department will provide federal law enforcement support when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is attacked,” Garland said. “We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, physical obstruction or property damage in violation of the FACE law.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the Biden administration’s preparations to prosecute.

This story is out and will be updated.

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