The US government has sued the state of Texas in a dispute over its new and very strict abortion law.
"The law is clearly unconstitutional," said Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday about the so-called heartbeat law, which prohibits an abortion from about the sixth week.
Garland referred to a 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion.
"The Justice Department has a duty to defend the United States Constitution and uphold the rule of law," said the Attorney General.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Texas, the US government is demanding that the law be immediately invalidated.
The law does not provide for any exceptions even in the case of rape
The strictest abortion law in the United States went into effect earlier this month in Texas.
It prohibits abortion from the moment the fetus's heartbeat can be determined.
This is the case from around the sixth week of pregnancy, when many women do not even know that they are pregnant.
Even in the case of rape or incest, the law does not provide for any exceptions.
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 blacken those who 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 will receive $ 10,000 if convicted.
Justice Minister Garland said the law makes citizens unrelated to pregnant women "bounty hunters".
He emphasized that the law had already taken effect: Abortion clinics in Texas would no longer make abortions due to concerns about legal consequences.
"Because of this, women in Texas cannot exercise their constitutional rights," Garland said.
President Joe Biden harshly criticized the Texas law last week and announced that his administration would take decisive action against it.
Planned Parenthood, an organization that operates abortion clinics, thanked Biden on Thursday for "using the full power of the federal government to protect Texans from this dangerous and unjust law."
"At this point in time, patients across Texas are scared, confused, and left with no place to have a safe and legal abortion," said Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Alexis McGill Johnson.
The civil rights organization ACLU described the Justice Department's actions as "welcome news".
Texas Governor Greg Abbott defended the law.
It ensures “that every child's life is saved from the ravages of abortion with a heartbeat”.
Unfortunately, President Biden and his administration are more interested in distracting themselves from their catastrophic evacuation of Afghanistan and their ruthless open borders policy of "protecting as innocent unborn babies."
The US Supreme Court last week rejected an urgent motion against the law.
The Supreme Court did not cite substantive but procedural reasons.
The decision of the conservatively dominated court came with a slim majority of five of the nine constitutional judges.
In 1973 the Supreme Court ruled “Roe v.
Wade “enshrined women's right to an abortion.
Opponents of abortion hope that the Supreme Court could overturn this ruling.
Women's rights groups look ahead to the fall when constitutional judges examine a Mississippi state abortion law.
Former US President Donald Trump appointed three new constitutional judges during his tenure, moving the court further to the right.