The Biden Administration hits back over Texas' onerous and unconstitutional law banning abortions after six weeks, and authorizing vigilantes to stalk and sue violators.
"The suit asks a judge to declare the measure unlawful, block its enforcement and 'protect the rights that Texas has violated.'
[Attorney General Merrick] Garland said the law is invalid under the Supremacy Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment, is preempted by federal law, and violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity. The U.S. government has 'an obligation to ensure that no state can deprive individuals of their constitutional rights,' he said.
The Biden administration’s decision to intervene comes after a divided Supreme Court last week refused to stop enforcement of the law, which prohibits most abortions in Texas at a stage when many women do not yet realize they are pregnant."
In addition to having no exceptions for rape and incest victims, another insidious feature of Texas' law is that it skirts state law enforcement and empowers private citizens to harass and sue women and anyone assisting them (cab drivers, someone giving directions, etc.):
"The Texas law was designed to withstand a similar preemptive legal challenge. It intentionally bars enforcement by state government officials, whom abortion providers would typically target in a lawsuit.
Instead, the law empowers private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who helps a woman get an abortion after the six-week window. Those private citizens can receive a $10,000 award if their lawsuits are successful. Individuals can target abortion providers, clinic workers or those who help a woman pay for the procedure or drive her to a clinic." (our emphasis)
DOJ needs to fight this and similar legislation in red states that is coming. This was the far right's, Christofascist fundamentalists' latest salvo in a continuing war on women.
