The Biden administration is suing the state of Texas over its new law restricting abortion once a preborn child’s heartbeat can be detected.
The Biden administration has been under pressure from pro-abortion politicians and organizations to stop the Texas Heartbeat Act (SB 8) following the Supreme Court’s decision last week to allow the law to take effect. Though other states have enacted similar heartbeat laws, the Texas law is the first to actually go into effect without being blocked by the courts.
The law is unique in that it allows private citizens to file civil suits against abortionists (for a potential $10,000 in damages) and anyone who aids a woman in obtaining an abortion after a preborn child’s heartbeat can be detected — except for the mother herself. The heartbeat can typically be detected at about six weeks, though the heart begins beating between 16 and 22 days after fertilization.
Since the Supreme Court decided not to immediately block the law, pro-abortion legislators have been working overtime to find ways to stop the Heartbeat Act, including pushing to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade into federal law. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department is expected to pursue the argument that the Heartbeat Act illegally interferes with federal interests.
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“The Department of Justice cannot permit private individuals seeking to deprive women of the constitutional right to choose an abortion to escape scrutiny under existing federal law simply because they attempt to do so under the color of state law,” Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday.
These pro-abortion legislators pressured Garland to prosecute any Texas residents who try to sue women seeking abortions — an action that is forbidden by the Texas Heartbeat Act.
Garland said on Monday that the Justice Department would “protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services” using the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE), which would allow federal law enforcement to act if an abortion business were to be “under attack.”
However, Texas Right to Life noted in a statement that the DOJ “will quickly find that they do not have jurisdiction to stop the Texas Heartbeat Act.”
The human circulatory system is the first system to begin to function, pumping blood to the rest of the body including the already forming spinal cord and brain structures in order to allow them to develop and grow, sustaining the preborn child’s life.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated since its original publication.
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