Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department is working to protect women’s civil rights in the 35 days since the national right to abortion was upended by the Supreme Court.
In a virtual meeting Friday with a team of lawyers, Mr. Garland said the effect of the high court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which sent the issue of abortion back to state legislatures, was “immediate, wide-ranging and devastating.”
He said the Justice Department is working to ensure women have the right to travel out of state for abortions if necessary, that federal agencies can still provide emergency reproductive services, that patients and medical providers are safe at clinics, and that states can’t ban medical abortion.