Justice Department files suit against Texas, seeking to block new abortion law

"The Justice Department on Thursday filed suit against the state of Texas over its controversial law that bans abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, taking action days after Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged to explore "all options" to challenge the measure and protect access to the procedure.

The suit from the Justice Department, filed in the U.S. District Court in Austin, sets up a showdown between the federal government and the Republican-led state as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a blockbuster dispute over a Mississippi abortion ban in the coming months, which could pave the way for further limits on the procedure by states.

Justice Department attorneys argued in their 30-page complaint that the statute was enacted in "open defiance" of the Constitution and said the goal of the measure was to "make it too risky for an abortion clinic to operate in the state, thereby preventing women throughout Texas from exercising their constitutional rights, while simultaneously thwarting judicial review.""