US Justice Department sues Texas over six-week abortion ban

Attorney General Merrick Garland has been under pressure to act (Scott Applewhite/AP)

The US Justice Department is suing Texas over a new state law that bans most abortions, arguing it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution”.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Texas, asks a federal judge to declare that the law is invalid, “to enjoin its enforcement, and to protect the rights that Texas has violated”.