by Mary Margaret Olohan
The Department of Justice asked a federal judge late Tuesday night to block Texas’ Heartbeat Act, which prohibits abortions after the baby’s heartbeat can be detected.
The DOJ called for a temporary restraining order or injunction against the new law, arguing that the Heartbeat Act intends “to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights.”
“When other States have enacted laws abridging reproductive rights to the extent that S.B. 8 does, courts have enjoined enforcement of the laws before they could take effect. In an effort to avoid that result, Texas devised an unprecedented scheme that seeks to deny women and providers the ability to challenge S.B. 8 in federal court,” the filing said. “This attempt to shield a plainly unconstitutional law from review cannot stand.”
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“The United States has the authority and responsibility to ensure that Texas cannot insulate itself from judicial review for its constitutional violations and to protect the important federal interests that S.B. 8 impairs,” the DOJ filing said.
Abortion advocates scrambled, without success, to block the law before it went into effect Sept. 1.
The Supreme Court denied the abortion providers’ request to block the Texas Heartbeat Act in a 5-4 ruling that President Joe Biden called an “unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Sept. 9 that the Biden administration was suing Texas.
“The Department of Justice has a duty to defend the constitution of the United States and to uphold the rule of law,” Garland said Thursday. “Today we fulfill that duty by filing the lawsuit I have just described.”
WATCH:
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The new The Heartbeat Act has particularly upset abortion advocates as it allows “any person” to sue doctors, abortion clinics, or anyone who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion.”
Those who sue over an abortion may be awarded $10,000 “for each abortion” the defendant performed, induced, aided, or abetted in violation of the law.
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Mary Margaret Olohan is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Merrick Garland” by Merrick Brian Garland. Background Photo “Texas State Capitol Building” by Daniel Mayer. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Republicans must be strategic to win in 2022. If we lose the House and Senate in 2022 the Dems will bring in 6 million more low-income immigrants, pass a national law to let people vote without ID, and the Dems will be in control. There is $100 Billion in the Dems funding plan for illegal immigrants. The average cost to taxpayers is $60,000 a year for 5 years.
The TX Republicans have done the Dems a big favor by giving them an issue. Only 35% of Americans want tougher abortion laws – 65% don’t. It would be smart to hold off on abortion and vote-losing issues until after the 2022 elections.