The dispute over the new abortion law in the US state of Texas continues to boil: President Joe Biden has criticized the country's Supreme Court with unusually sharp words for not stopping the law.
The actions of the constitutional judges are an "unprecedented attack" on the fundamental right of women to abortion and unleash "unconstitutional chaos," said Biden on Thursday.
He even accused the judges of "insulting" the rule of law.
This "mistake" by the Supreme Court calls for an "immediate response" from his government, Biden said. The White House will work with the Departments of Health and Justice to find ways "to ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions." Pregnant women and abortion clinics would have to be protected from the "bizarre" regulation of the Texan law, according to which private citizens should enforce the new strict abortion law.
On Thursday night, the conservatively dominated Supreme Court rejected an urgent motion against the abortion law that came into force on Wednesday, which prohibits abortions after the sixth week.
The judges cited procedural reasons and emphasized that it was not a matter of a judgment on the constitutionality of the controversial law.
Strictest abortion law in the US
The decision of the nine-member court came with a narrow majority of five judges, three of whom were appointed by former US President Donald Trump.
The other judges clearly distanced themselves from the decision.
Liberal judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote that her colleagues had chosen to "bury their heads in the sand" instead of "preventing an apparently unconstitutional law".
The law that went into effect on Wednesday - the strictest abortion law in the United States - prohibits abortions from the point at which the fetus's heartbeat can be detected, i.e. from around the sixth week of pregnancy.
Many women do not yet know that they are pregnant at this point.
Even in the case of rape or incest, the law does not provide for any exceptions.
Later abortions are only allowed if the pregnant woman's health is at risk.
There is also outrage that it is not the Texan authorities that are supposed to enforce the new regulations, but private individuals.
Citizens are encouraged to sue those they suspect of assisting women with an abortion after the sixth week.
This could affect abortion clinics or their employees, for example, but also relatives of pregnant women or a taxi driver who takes the woman to the clinic.
Plaintiffs, if convicted, will receive $ 10,000 payable by the convict.
"Total strangers can now interfere in the most private and personal health decisions of women," criticized Biden on Thursday.
The fact that the Supreme Court has not put a stop to this "unleashes unconstitutional chaos and enables self-appointed executors to have devastating effects."
In 1973 the Supreme Court ruled “Roe v.
Wade “legalized abortions up to the sixth month of pregnancy.
Opponents of abortion are pressing for this ruling to be overturned - and relying on the conservative majority in the Supreme Court, which was built under Trump. There will be a new test in the fall when the constitutional judges deal with an abortion law in the state of Mississippi.