How can U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland challenge Texas’ new restrictive abortion law when the state isn’t charged with enforcing it and there is no state defendant to sue?
Some abortion-rights supporters say the answer is for the Department of Justice to prosecute private citizens who sue to enforce the law, which bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, the Washington Post reports.
The law authorizes private citizens to file the suits against abortion providers and others who knowingly help pregnant women violate the law, which effectively bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.
