Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, shared very direct comments in the wake of yesterday’s Supreme Court decision blocking Texas Pro-Life provisions from going into effect until at least mid-September. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) enjoined two provisions of House Bill 2, the Pro-Life Omnibus Bill, with a stay released yesterday in response to an appeal from national abortion mill chain Whole Woman’s Health. SCOTUS decided on a 5-4 vote that the ambulatory surgical center (ASC) and admitting privileges requirements of HB 2 cannot be enforced on July 1 as the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled on June 8.
Father Pavone said HB 2 has “taken a back seat to the wishes of the abortionists” in Texas, and decried the SCOTUS decision, saying, “The courts should not let them get away with this one day longer.” Sadly, the two provisions of HB 2 at issue in yesterday’s ruling have evaded enforcement for nearly two years already. And SCOTUS, as the highest court of law in the United States, is the final stop before these provisions will be hopelessly dissolved or definitively enforced.
Father Pavone did not mince words when he addressed the attitudes of abortionists who oppose health and safety measures for women and preborn children, saying: “The abortion industry is unscrupulous and unregulated. And the only reason they resist laws like the one in Texas is not because those standards that the law imposes are unreasonable, but because the abortionists don’t want to grow up and act like real doctors.”
Indeed, the HB 2 requirements in question are exclusively aimed at providing heightened safety standards for Texas women who have, for decades, been collateral damage in the profiteering of the Texas abortion industry. Texas Right to Life will continue to work toward higher levels of accountability and oversight within the abortion industry. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of national Pro-Life leaders like Father Frank Pavone.