US government calls on Supreme Court to block Texas abortion law

Published on : 18/10/2021 – 20:30

The government of Democratic President Joe Biden formally asked the United States Supreme Court on Monday, October 18 to block an extremely restrictive abortion law in Texas.

This law, at the heart of a fierce legal battle, prohibits abortion as soon as the embryo’s heartbeat is detectable, i.e. around six weeks of pregnancy, when most women are still unaware of being pregnant, and does not plan exception in cases of incest or rape.

The jurisprudence of the Supreme Court guarantees the right of women to abort as long as the fetus is not viable, that is to say around 22 weeks of pregnancy.

But the Texas text has a unique device: it entrusts citizens “exclusively” with the task of enforcing the measure by encouraging them to file a complaint against organizations or people who help women to have illegal abortions.

A law still in force

The Supreme Court, where the conservative judges are in the majority, had already been seized for the first time and had therefore invoked these “new questions of procedure” to refuse, on September 1, to block the entry into force of the law.

The federal government then entered the legal arena, filing a lawsuit against Texas on its behalf.

On October 6, a trial judge ruled in his favor and suspended the law, pending a review on the merits. “This court will not allow this shocking deprivation of such an important right to continue one more day,” Federal Judge Robert Pitman wrote.

Some clinics then resumed abortions beyond six weeks. But days later, a Louisiana-based appeals court known for its conservatism overturned Judge Pitman’s ruling. The law thus remains in force for the moment as long as the procedure continues.

The Justice Department is now asking the Supreme Court to overturn Justice Pitman’s ruling.

With AFP