State Attorney General Ken Paxton Announces Abortions Are Illegal in Texas
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Friday that abortions are now illegal in Texas. This follows the stunning decision by the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark reproductive rights decision from 1973 Roe v. Wade.
Texas is one of 13 states with “trigger laws” that would outlaw abortion after the Supreme Court decision. Texas currently has a six-week ban on the procedure, and a full trigger ban will take effect 30 days from now. The ban has no exceptions for rape or incest.
Paxton announced via statement:
Today the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), thus bringing an end to a half century of the unconstitutional and unconscionable national “right” to abortion. Attorney General Paxton also released an official advisory setting forth Texas law in light of the Supreme Court’s decision. Additionally, he announced the statewide closure of his agency’s offices today in honor of the nearly 70 million unborn babies killed in the womb since 1973. June 24th will be an annual Office of the Attorney General holiday in recognition of this momentous decision—and the many lives lost before it.
“Roe v. Wade and its successor case Planned Parenthood v. Casey have absolutely no basis in the U.S. Constitution,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Nevertheless, for half a century, Americans have had to live under these illegitimate, illegal, and unconstitutional dictates of a partisan, willful Supreme Court. No more. Today, the question of abortion returns to the states. And in Texas, that question has already been answered: abortion is illegal here. I look forward to defending the pro-life laws of Texas and the lives of all unborn children moving forward.”
“Further,” added Attorney General Paxton, “we cannot forget the extraordinary violence that Roe and Casey unleashed on our nation. Because of those decisions, almost 70 million babies have been killed in the womb. And so, today at noon, I am closing all my offices as a memorial to these babies. Our hearts and prayers go out to all of them. Never again should something like this happen in America.”
On Friday, the Supreme Court overruled the decision from 1973 with a 5-4 decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, oral arguments which they heard on Dec. 1, 2021. This makes abortion rights a state’s rights issue, with more than a dozen Republican-controlled states like Texas having already passed laws to make abortion illegal.
Texas’ AG Paxton simply makes that official.
