President Joe Biden released a scathing statement Wednesday criticizing Texas’s new ban on certain abortions.
“Today, Texas law SB8 went into effect. This extreme Texas law blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century,” Biden wrote. “The Texas law will significantly impair women’s access to the health care they need, particularly for communities of color and individuals with low incomes. And, outrageously, it deputizes private citizens to bring lawsuits against anyone who they believe has helped another person get an abortion, which might even include family members, health care workers, front desk staff at a health care clinic, or strangers with no connection to the individual.”
TEXAS ABORTION LAW GOES INTO EFFECT WITH NO INDICATION OF SUPREME COURT BLOCK
“My administration is deeply committed to the constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade nearly five decades ago and will protect and defend that right,” the president added.
The Texas law, which went into effect early Wednesday morning after being signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in May, bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. This commonly occurs around the six-week mark, which opponents contest falls before most women realize they may be pregnant.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the law a “full-scale assault on patients, our health care providers, and our support systems.”
The Supreme Court is slated to reconsider Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the most prominent abortion rights case brought before the court in years, later this fall, but it declined to take up an appeal from abortion providers on S.B. 8 prior to Wednesday’s implementation.
“If permitted to take effect, S.B. 8 would immediately and catastrophically reduce abortion access in Texas, barring care for at least 85% of Texas abortion patients (those who are six weeks pregnant or greater) and likely forcing many abortion clinics ultimately to close,” the abortion providers wrote in their appeal.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
