DOJ will ask Supreme Court to halt abortion law

The Biden administration said Friday it will turn next to the U.S. Supreme Court in another attempt to halt a Texas law that has banned most abortions since September.

The move comes as the clinics are running out of avenues to stop the GOP-engineered law that bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks. It amounts to the nation’s biggest curb to abortion in nearly 50 years and makes no exception for cases of rape or incest.

By going to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department is taking the route that clinics have sought as other legal challenges have failed. In the meantime, Texas women have turned to abortion clinics in neighboring states, some driving hours through the middle of the night and including patients as young as 12 years old.

“People are scared, confused, and other than very early abortion, have nowhere to turn to access safe, legal abortion unless they are able to travel hundreds of miles to another state,” said Jeffrey Hons, president of Planned Parenthood South Texas, whose clinics have stopped offering all abortion services since the law took effect Sept. 1.

The latest defeat for clinics came Thursday night when a federal appeals panel in New Orleans, in a 2-1 decision, allowed the restrictions to remain in place for a third time in the last several weeks alone. Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said the federal government will now ask the Supreme Court to reverse that decision.