Now that the United States Supreme Court has officially overturned Roe v. Wade, it is unclear how Texas district attorneys will go about prosecuting cases related to the procedure.
Some DAs have spoken out in favor of allowing abortions, according to Axios, while others have agreed with the Supreme Court’s decision.
State Representative Briscoe Cain told WFAA that he plans to introduce legislation letting DAs prosecute outside their own counties.
“I expect the urban county DAs to resist it,” Cain said. “And that’s why we need to come up with alternative remedies. That is one of the main reasons we have civil enforcement under the Texas heartbeat bill. We knew that the major urban DAs weren’t going to want to enforce these things, so we allowed for civil remedies.”
Cain shared that Roe v. Wade being overturned marked an important day for him.
“This is—it’s literally—why I went to law school. I chose to go to law school in order to become an attorney in order to fight to end abortion. Today is a really, really big day. It’s why I got involved in politics,” he said.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called it a “tremendous day” in a statement sent to The Dallas Express.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling is an acknowledgement (sic) of the truth: When an abortion is performed, a human life is ended,” Patrick said. “This watershed victory is not just a victory for innocent life, but a victory for all of humanity.”
On June 24, the Dallas County DA Twitter account shared a statement from District Attorney John Creuzot, who spoke against the Supreme Court’s decision.
“Today’s decision from the Supreme Court turns back the clock nearly 50 years on women’s rights,” Creuzot said. “I want women across Texas, and especially here in Dallas County, to rest assured that my office will not stand in the way of them seeking the health care they need.”
He added, “As we do every day, my office will continue to use discretion to pursue justice on behalf of all citizens of our Dallas County community.”
As reported by The Dallas Express, the trigger law in Texas will cause the abortion ban to go into effect 30 days from the official ruling. Providing or aiding in an abortion will be a first-degree felony.
Attorney General Ken Paxton could overrule the decisions of local DAs, Axios reported.
“Roe v. Wade and its successor case Planned Parenthood v. Casey have absolutely no basis in the U.S. Constitution. 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,” Paxton said in a statement.
Paxton also released an advisory on the reversal of Roe v. Wade, as reported by The Dallas Express. The advisory declared that abortion became immediately illegal based on existing Texas laws that predated Roe.
“SCOTUS just overruled Roe & Casey, ending one of the most morally & legally corrupt eras in US history. Praise the Lord,” Paxton stated on Twitter. “Abortion is now illegal in Texas.”
However, a Texas state court has issued an injunction on the enforcement of these laws after pro-abortion advocates and abortion providers filed suit, The Dallas Express reported. While the injunction is in place, abortions up to six weeks can temporarily still be performed in the state at the clinics named as plaintiffs in the suit.
Later, on July 1, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the pre-Roe ban can be enforced. It does not allow abortion providers to be criminally prosecuted, but opens up anyone who assists in the procurement of an abortion to face lawsuits and fines.
A hearing regarding a permanent injunction against the enforcement of the Texas abortion ban that Paxton claims was reinstated by the Roe overturn is set for July 12. Still, the more-recently enacted trigger law will soon go into effect regardless of whether that pre-Roe legislation is enforced.
Paxton said his office will assist prosecutors in the meantime who pursue criminal charges “based on violations of Texas abortion prohibitions predating Roe that were never repealed by the Texas Legislature.”
A group of elected prosecutors released a joint statement on June 24 as well. The prosecutors stated they would not enforce abortion bans in their districts.
“Not all of us agree on a personal or moral level on the issue of abortion. But we stand together in our firm belief that prosecutors have a responsibility to refrain from using limited criminal legal system resources to criminalize personal medical decisions,” the statement reads. “As such, we decline to use our offices’ resources to criminalize reproductive health decisions and commit to exercise our well-settled discretion and refrain from prosecuting those who seek, provide, or support abortions.”
Multiple Texas district attorneys supported the statement: John Creuzot of Dallas County, José Garza of Travis County (Austin), Joe Gonzales of Bexar County (San Antonio), Mark Gonzalez of Nueces County (Corpus Christi), and Brian Middleton of Fort Bend County (Houston).
