Attorney General Garland: Prosecutors urgently exploring options to challenge the Texas abortion law

​​The Justice Department says it will use a federal law known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to protect women seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, following the recent passage of Texas law limiting most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.  

The move was announced Monday by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The Texas law also leaves enforcement of it up to citizens through lawsuits instead of criminal prosecutors.

Garland said in a statement federal prosecutors are still urgently exploring options to challenge the Texas law, according to the Associated Press. 

He said the Justice Department would enforce the federal law "to protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons, including access to an abortion."

The federal law, commonly known as the FACE Act, prohibits physically obstructing or using the threat of force to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking reproductive health services. The law also prohibits damaging property at abortion clinics and other reproductive health centers, the wire service also reports.