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The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the Texas abortion ban, which prevents women from having an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, after six weeks gestation.
In the document, the DOJ asserts that the American judiciary has held “for centuries” that a state “may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before it is viable,” and wonders whether the Supreme Court should allow Texas to “overrule” such a precept.
The department had announced its intentions last Friday.
Texas abortion ban “defies” justice, DOJ says
According to the DOJ, the Texas abortion law defies major Supreme Court decisions “by banning abortion long before viability; in fact, before many women realize they are pregnant.”
“Instead of openly defending its law and asking this court to review its decisions, Texas took matters into its own hands by creating an unprecedented structure to thwart judicial review,” the DOJ argues in its emergency appeal.
The DOJ also asserts that it would “perpetuate the ongoing irreparable harm to the thousands of Texas women who are denied their constitutional rights” if the Texas abortion law is upheld.
This is the second attempt to challenge the new law before the Court in an emergency appeal, seeking to stay it while lawsuits challenging its constitutionality work their way through the lower courts.
The Court rejected the first appeal against the law in early September, saying the case presented “complex and novel” questions about whether the Court had the authority to block it.
Is a 9 or 19 year old even going to know she is pregnant? Is it her farther or brother’s child? Terrible harm to her body, mind, and emotions. Hopefully, someone will figure out that she is not just getting pudgy. She will probably have to have surgery before it totally wrecks her health. This law is cruel.