AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The Justice Department on Thursday denounced Texas for a new state law banning most abortions, arguing it was enacted “openly defying the Constitution.”
The lawsuit, filed in Texas federal court, asks a federal judge to declare the law invalid, “to demand its enforcement and to protect the rights that Texas has violated.”
“The act is clearly unconstitutional under the long-standing Supreme Court precedent,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit.
The Justice Department argues that the law illegally violates women’s constitutional rights and violates the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which says federal law replaces state law. Federal officials are also concerned that other states may enact similar laws that would “deprive their citizens of their constitutional rights,” he said.
“It’s an established constitutional law that” a state can’t ban any woman from making the final decision to terminate a pregnancy before it’s viable, “the lawsuit says.” But Texas has done exactly that. ”
Texas law, known as SB8, prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually about six weeks, before some women know they are pregnant. Courts have blocked the imposition of similar restrictions in other states, but Texas law differs significantly because it leaves enforcement to private citizens through civil lawsuits rather than criminal prosecutions.
Justice Department pressure was not only rising from the White House (President Joe Biden has said the law is “almost anti-American”), but also by Congress Democrats, who wanted Garland to take action. Earlier this week, Garland promised that the Justice Department would step in to enforce a federal law known as the Freedom of Access to Clinics Act.
This law, commonly known as the FACE Act, typically prohibits physically obstructing access to abortion clinics by blocking entrances or threatening to use force to intimidate or interfere with someone. It also prohibits damaging property at abortion clinics and other reproductive health centers.
The lawsuit filed Thursday seeks an immediate court order to ban law enforcement in Texas. Under the statute, someone could file a lawsuit, even if it has nothing to do with the woman aborting, and could be entitled to at least $ 10,000 in damages if they prevail in court.
“The statute replaces all private citizens, without showing any personal connection or injury, to be bounty hunters authorized to recover at least $ 10,000 for claiming persons who facilitate the exercise of their constitutional rights by a woman,” said Garland. “The obvious and expressly recognized intent of this legal scheme is to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights by thwarting judicial review.”
The attorney general also argued that Texas law could expose some federal employees from different government agencies to civil liability for doing their job.
Texas law is the nation’s largest limit on abortion since the Supreme Court ruled in the decisive Roe 1973 decision against Wade that women have a constitutional right to abortion.
Abortion providers have said they will comply, but some of Texas’ roughly two dozen abortion clinics have temporarily stopped offering abortion services. Meanwhile, clinics in neighboring states have seen an increase in Texas patients.
Texas Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group and proponent of the new law, said Thursday in anticipation of the lawsuit that it was already working with other states to take similar action.
“The Biden administration’s plot represents a desperate attempt to stop the life-saving law by any necessary means,” the group said in a statement.
Renae Eze, a spokesman for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, said his office is confident the courts will uphold the law.
“The most precious freedom is life itself. Texas passed a law that guarantees that the lives of all children with heartbeats will be saved from the ravages of abortion, ”Eze said.
The law offers no exceptions in cases of rape or incest, which Abbott defended Tuesday falsely claiming that women still have “at least six weeks” to have an abortion. A woman who has regular periods and who carefully monitors her cycle could experience a positive result no earlier than about four weeks pregnant.
Abbott also said Texas would strive to “eliminate all rapists from the streets.” Recent surveys conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice found that most rapes were not reported to police, including a 2019 survey that found that only 1 in 3 victims reported being raped or sexually assaulted. .
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents Texas abortion clinics demanding the law, welcomed the Biden administration.
“It’s a game changer that the Justice Department has joined the legal battle to restore access to constitutionally protected abortion in Texas and disarm vigilantes seeking to collect their rewards,” said President Nancy Northup of the group.
Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement that the lawsuit is a critical first step “to correct this injustice for the people of Texas and prevent this catastrophe from developing in other states that have pledged to continue.” the example of Texas. ”
Amiri said in an interview that he hoped the lawsuit would develop quickly, possibly reaching the Supreme Court in a few weeks.
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Balsam reported from New York City.
AP reporter Jessica Gresko contributed to this report.