ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has joined in the effort to halt Texas' six-week abortion ban, known as S.B. 8, that was put in place in September.
Ellison joins a group of 24 attorneys general throughout the country who are urging the United States Supreme Court to vacate a federal appeals court stay of an earlier district court decision that blocked the ban from going into effect.
The district court order put only a 48-hour pause on the ban before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in.
The amicus brief, filed with SCOTUS in the case of United States of America v. State of Texas et al., supports the Biden administration's challenge Monday that calls on the Court to lift S.B. 8, which was written to make it difficult for people to challenge it in the federal court system.
"I am once again intervening to ask a court, this time the highest court in the land, to halt Texas’ blatantly unconstitutional law,” Ellison said in a statement. “We are already seeing the damage it is doing not only to Texans, but people in neighboring states and around the country."
Ellison added, "Being able to make your own choices about your reproductive health care is a constitutional right and fundamental to living with dignity and respect. I will keep fighting for that right for Minnesotans and people in every state.”
The attorneys general say the Texas law goes against the Supreme Court's precedent, which recognizes abortion as legal under federal law. The Texas law imposes a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which is usually before some people know they are pregnant. Those who bring claims against providers and others who "aid and abet" the procedures are also eligible for a financial reward.
Neighboring states and their clinics have already seen an influx of patients seeking abortion care, as Texas providers have mostly stopped the practice.
“Most patients now must travel out of state, which makes abortion for many people too difficult, too time-intensive, and too costly,” the coalition writes in the brief. “Consequently, many will now be forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, resulting in negative health and socioeconomic consequences for both them and their children."
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is leading the multistate push.
