The Justice Department will argue against Texas' abortion law Friday. Here's what you need to know.

[TexasTowelie]

by Reese Oxner, Texas Tribune


Texas’ near-total ban on abortions became law Sept. 1 and quickly became the target of several lawsuits aiming to stop its enforcement.

But as those legal battles continue — with one case the subject of a federal court hearing Friday — Senate Bill 8 still stands.

Abortion providers, doctors, women’s rights groups and even the U.S. government are battling to overturn the law, which bans the procedure after approximately six weeks of pregnancy — before many know they’re pregnant. The nation’s highest court has taken up the law once — though it didn’t weigh in on its constitutionality — and multiple lawsuits are pending. A federal lawsuit filed by the Biden administration will hold a hearing Friday in a U.S. District Court.

Abortion remains a constitutional right under Supreme Court precedent. But the structure of SB 8 allows it to skirt precedent by offloading the enforcement of the statute from government and law officials to private citizens.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/30/texas-abortion-law-legal-challenges/