department of justice.Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images
The Department of Justice is urging the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to halt the enforcement ofTexas' restrictive Senate Bill 8while its challenge to the new law is appealed.
On Monday, the Department of Justice said in a filing that keeping the bill in effect would result in “substantial harm to the United States' sovereign interests and would disserve the public interest,“CNNreports. “If Texas' scheme is permissible, no constitutional right is safe from state-sanctioned sabotage of this kind.”
The ban will, as of now, remain in effect.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman granted apreliminary injunction to suspend enforcementofthe abortion ban, after the Justice Department argued that Senate Bill 8 was created “to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights.”
The order blocked the state from enforcing the law in any capacity, including barring judges and court clerks from hearing or administering lawsuits brought against individuals who seek abortions or abortion providers under Senate Bill 8.
However, on Friday, Texas officials appealed the order in the 5th U.S. Circuit and the law was revived as they now determine whether or not to keep the law.
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The law also rewards a minimum of $10,000 to private citizens who successfully sue abortion providers. Anyone who aids in an individual securing an abortion — including those driving the patient to a clinic or helping to cover the cost — can also be sued.
After the Supreme Courtdeclinedto block the law in a 5-4 vote, the Justice Departmentsued Texasover the law Sept. 9.
“The act is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit, perThe Associated Press.
Pro-choice and anti-abortion protestors face off outside the Supreme Court.Drew Angerer/Getty
“We’re hearing that other states want to see how long this plays out, and can they create just as restrictive laws in their own states,” she explained.
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While abortion care may be easily accessible for most women in states like New York, Rupani questioned, “will it be easy to access if other states outside of Texas start banning abortion?”
“I think in Oklahoma, for the last three weeks, most of the patients at a couple of Oklahoma clinics have only been Texans. So that means you’re forcing Oklahomans out of their state, unfortunately, because that’s the first place Texans are going to get care,” she said. “And this is just going to create a chilling and trickle-down effect of where folks are going.”
source: people.com
