The Department of Justice has sued the state of Texas over the new law that bans abortions after about six weeks.
In the lawsuit, it argues that the state enacted the law “in open defiance of the Constitution.”
“The act is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a news conference Thursday afternoon. “Those precedents hold, in the words of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, that ‘regardless of whether exceptions are made for particular circumstances, a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.’ “
The DOJ is asking a Federal court to ‘invalidate the law’ and immediately stop all enforcement of the ban.
Garland noted the law deputizes private citizens “to serve as bounty hunters authorized to recover at least $10,000 per claim from individuals who facilitate a woman’s exercise of her constitutional rights.”
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to fight back.