Justice Department will ask Supreme Court to block Texas abortion ban

The Justice Department announced on Friday that it will petition the Supreme Court to block a new Texas law that bans most abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, generally at six weeks' gestation. 

According to The Hill, the DOJ’s decision came just hours after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Biden administration's attempt to block the ban from remaining in effect. 

“The Justice Department intends to ask the Supreme Court to vacate the Fifth Circuit’s stay of the preliminary injunction against Texas Senate Bill 8,” a Justice Department spokesperson said Friday.

The Biden administration’s latest move will put the controversial law back in front of the Supreme Court, which previously allowed the law to take effect. 

The last time the case was before the high court, justices did not rule on the constitutionality of the law, but allowed it to take effect, saying that those who brought the matter before the court had not made their case amid “complex and novel” procedural questions.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in December concerning a Mississippi case that aims to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.