The US Supreme Court on Monday will hear two challenges to the highly controversial Texas state law that bans near-total abortions. The high court has taken the cases with an unusual speed. However, the ruling could take weeks or even months.
One of the challenges comes from the Department of Justice and the other one comes from Whole Women’s Health. Taking effect from September which is said to be the most restrictive one across the country, the Texas law prohibits aboritions once the cardiac activity is detected in an embryo which can happen as early as around six weeks before many women are even aware that they are pregnant.
However, the fetal heartbeat law does not make any exceptions for pregnancies resulting from incest or rape. Furthermore, it allows most of the US citizens irrespective of their location to file lawsuit against abortion providers who infringe on the policy.
President Joe Biden earlier this year said that the Texas law was “extreme” and strongly violated the constitutional right established under the Roe v. Wade which was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court adopted in 1973 legalising aborition across the country.
The Biden administration further argued that the private enforcement regime is a transparent attempt to shield what they view as a blatant unconstitutional ban and if the scheme were allowed to stand, it would allow states to undermine other constitutional rights in similar ways.
Speaking against the challenges, Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone in briefs said that neither case presents a case or a controversy. He said that both challenges should be dismissed. Talking about the Biden administration’s argument, Stone said that the Constitution doesn’t allow federal power to sue whenever the US wants.
The high court is also reportedly to hear in December another case over a Mississippi abortion restriction that is directly challenging the landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.
