US government goes to Supreme Court dispute over abortion ban in Texas

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Women protest the new law outside the Texan Capitol in Austin

Photo: SERGIO FLORES / AFP

In September the strictest abortion law in the United States came into effect.

In order to override the so-called "heartbeat law", the US government is now going to the country's Supreme Court.

The Justice Department announced on Friday that it would apply to the Supreme Court in Washington to suspend the so-called Heartbeat Act.

This means that the legal disputes over the highly controversial law are entering the next round.

Appeals court reinstated law

Last week, a federal judge granted an urgent motion from President Joe Biden's administration and temporarily suspended the abortion law.

An appeals court subsequently overturned this decision, and the decision was confirmed again on Thursday evening.

This means that the law is back in force in the conservative state in the southern United States.

The law prohibits termination of pregnancy from the point at which the heartbeat of the fetus can be determined, i.e. from around the sixth week of pregnancy.

Many women do not even know at this point that they are pregnant.

Even in the event of rape or incest, Texan 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 sue people they suspect of helping women with an abortion after the sixth week.

In addition to abortion clinics and their employees, this could also affect relatives or a taxi driver who has brought a pregnant woman to the clinic.

Whistleblowers will receive $ 10,000 if convicted.

Since the Roe v.

Wade from 1973 applies nationwide that abortions are allowed up to the point in time when the fetus is also viable outside the womb.

From a medical point of view, this is the case between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy.

muk / AFP