The Supreme Court of Texas on Friday night overruled a lower court order that purported to allow abortion clinics to continue killing preborn babies throughout the last week.
The state’s highest court agreed Texas never repealed its abortion bans that existed before Roe v. Wade. Friday’s ruling clarifies that district attorneys and state officials may fully prosecute abortionists under the pre-Roe statutes at least until a hearing later this month.
Texas Right to Life President Dr. John Seago celebrated:
“Preborn children deserve justice. We are thankful the Texas Supreme Court rescinded this temporary restraining order that abortionists were using as an excuse to continue their murderous practice.”
Even with this temporary victory, there is one fact the media and abortion industry are ignoring: Abortionists who attempted to continue business as usual after the Dobbs ruling can face murder charges regardless of the prior temporary restraining order. Their lawsuit targeted the state’s pre-Roe statutes but did not impact Texas’ homicide laws. The Texas Penal Code asserts that murder charges do “not apply to the death of an unborn child if the conduct charged is… a lawful medical procedure…” Abortion is no longer a lawful medical procedure and thus can be prosecuted as homicide. Reliance on the temporary restraining order is no defense.
Texas Right to Life confirmed approximately half of the state’s abortion businesses resumed taking appointments since Tuesday. We alerted district attorneys to this criminal activity and urged these elected officials to prosecute abortionists known to have broken the law. To hold abortionists accountable going forward, we will push legislation next session authorizing private citizens to sue those who break any Pro-Life law, in a manner similar to the Texas Heartbeat Act.