US Supreme court declines to block 6-week Texas abortion ban despite condemnation from President Biden

America’s top court has declined to block a ban on abortions past six weeks in Texas, representing a “near-categorical ban” on terminations, despite condemnation from president Joe Biden and outcry among doctors and justices.

The court voted 5-4 late on Wednesday to allow the law to go ahead after pleas from abortion providers in Texas to intervene and stop the bill prohibiting termination of pregnancy after six weeks.

Liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor slammed the move in a dissenting opinion: “Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand.”

Sotomayor continued, explaining the act “equates to a near-categorical ban on abortions… before many women realize they are pregnant, and months before fetal viability.”

Biden expressed his condemnation of the bill earlier on Wednesday in a statement issued by the White House. The US president blasted the red state’s law, proclaiming that it “blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade” – a landmark 1972 Supreme court ruling that legalized a woman’s right to seek an abortion. The Biden administration vowed that it “will protect and defend that right.”

Act SB 8, which prohibits terminations after a month and a half upon the detection of a heartbeat, will impact at least 85% of women seeking to end their pregnancies in the second-largest US state, according to pro-choice groups and abortion providers.

In an unprecedented move, the bill grants citizens the authority to issue lawsuits against anyone deemed to be facilitating procedures past six weeks. Civilians can sue abortion clinics, and even drivers escorting women to appointments, for at least $10,000. The American Civil Liberties Union claimed that this “actively encourages private individuals to act as bounty hunters.”

Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the controversial law in May. Several other, mainly red, states have tried to pass “heartbeat” bills, yet attempts have been blocked by courts.

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