DOJ Petitions Appeals Court To Block TX Abortion Law

Axios reports:

The Department of Justice asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Monday to suspend Texas’ new law that bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, or roughly six weeks — before many people know they are pregnant. Medical providers in the state briefly resumed performing abortions last week after a federal judge ruled that the law was unconstitutional, though it was temporarily reinstated by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Justice Department, which sued Texas over the law in September, argued Tuesday that if the law is upheld, states could violate any right provided they left enforcement up to private citizens and not the state itself. “If Texas’s scheme is permissible, no constitutional right is safe from state-sanctioned sabotage of this kind,” the Justice Department told the appeals court.

Read the full article.

The DOJ last night asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend Texas’ new law that bans abortions after cardiac activity is detected, or roughly six weeks — before many people know they are pregnant.@JacKnutson @axios:https://t.co/0dPrmSwCHs

— Oriana González (@OrianaBeLike) October 12, 2021