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 The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 1
https://www.reuters.com/
business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/
texas-six-week-abortion-ban-takes-effect-2021-09-01 allowed the
Republican-backed law to take effect even as litigation over its
legality continues in lower courts. The U.S. Justice Department
eight days later sued in federal court https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-justice-dept-announce-civil-rights-case-after-texas-abortion-ban-takes-effect-2021-09-09
to try to invalidate it.
During a hearing in the Texas capital of Austin, Justice Department
lawyers are set to ask U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to
temporarily block the law, saying the state's Republican legislature
and governor enacted it "in an open defiance of the Constitution."
In the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide,
the Supreme Court recognized a woman's constitutional right to
terminate a pregnancy. The Supreme Court in December is due to hear
arguments over the legality of a Mississippi abortion law in a case
in which officials from that state are asking the justices to
overturn Roe vs. Wade.
The Texas law bans abortions starting at six weeks of pregnancy, a
point when many women may not yet realize they are pregnant. It and
the Mississippi measure are among a series of Republican-backed laws
passed by various states restricting abortion.
About 85% to 90% of abortions are performed after six weeks. Texas
makes no exception for cases of rape and incest. It also lets
ordinary citizens enforce the ban, rewarding them at least $10,000
if they successfully sue anyone who helped provide an abortion after
fetal cardiac activity is detected.
The four Whole Woman's Health abortion clinics across the state have
reported that
https://www.reuters.com/world/
us/texas-abortion-clinics-struggle-survive-under-restrictive-law-2021-09-30
patient visits have plummeted and some staff have quit since the
Texas law took effect.
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 In an emergency motion to the
court, the Justice Department provided sworn
statements from doctors who described the impact
of the Texas law on patients.
In one statement, Dr. Joshua Yap said he
witnessed a "surge" of women crossing into
neighboring Oklahoma for abortions.
"One of the most heart-wrenching cases I have
seen recently was of a Texas minor who had been
raped by a family member," Yap said, adding that
a guardian made an eight-hour drive to Oklahoma
from Galveston because the girl was more than
six weeks pregnant.
 Republican
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state's top law enforcement
official, argued in a court filing on Wednesday that the Justice
Department's lawsuit must be dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.
The Texas law must be challenged in state court through lawsuits
brought against abortion providers by private citizens, Paxton said.
Democratic former President Barack Obama appointed Pitman to the
judiciary in 2014.
The hearing will include arguments from other interested parties,
including Oscar Stilley, a disbarred lawyer in home confinement for
tax evasion who in September became one of the first people to test
a key provision of the law by suing a San Antonio doctor who
provided an abortion.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Additional
reporting by Julia Harte; Editing by Will Dunham and Scott Malone)
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