Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday that the Justice Department would protect women seeking an abortion in Texas as the agency explores ways to challenge one of the most restrictive laws in the nation.
In a statement, Garland said the department would “protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services pursuant to our criminal and civil enforcement of the” law known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
The announcement from the Justice Department comes days after the conservative-majority Supreme Court declined to block the Texas law that bans abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
The law also allows anyone to file a lawsuit against any other person who has aided someone in obtaining an abortion, with the potential for a $10,000 payoff.
“The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack. We have reached out to U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and FBI field offices in Texas and across the country to discuss our enforcement authorities,” Garland said.
He added that the department “will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, physical obstruction or property damage in violation” of federal law.
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, enacted in 1994, prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services.
Last week, President Biden said the department would be exploring options to counter the law.
“I have been and continue to be a strong supporter of Roe v. Wade, number one,” Biden said Friday morning. “And the most pernicious thing about the Texas law, it sort of creates a vigilante system where people get rewards to go out and to . . . ”
He did not finish the thought.