Texas Right to Life’s legal team has sent an open letter to the Harris County district attorney, Houston chief of police, Dallas County district attorney, and Dallas chief of police bringing to their attention possible criminal action of several abortion businesses. Suburban Women’s Clinic of Southwest Houston, Suburban Women’s Clinic of Northwest Houston, and Northpark Medical Group’s Aaron Women’s Center are believed to be in violation of Texas law regarding abortion following the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24. Evidence gathered by Texas Right to Life suggests that these three organizations may have committed abortions after the Supreme Court ruling on Friday, and possibly even now. Texas Right to Life calls on county and city officials in Houston and Dallas to appropriately investigate and enforce the law.
Immediately after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Texas Right to Life began directly calling every abortion provider throughout Texas to verify if the businesses were still scheduling abortions. Although the majority of these organizations—including all Planned Parenthood facilities—had immediately ceased their appointments in compliance with Texas law, a few appeared to still be conducting business as usual.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton even issued an advisory reaffirming that Texas’ laws before Roe v. Wade were enforceable instantly, regardless of the “Trigger Law” that will take effect at a later date. Although this has left some people confused, the attorney general clearly agreed abortion is now illegal in Texas.
Texas Right to Life’s open letter states with the utmost clarity that we expect these Houston and Dallas officials to do their jobs:
This is a violation of an active state law. As District Attorney and Chief of Police it is your duty to uphold the law and investigate crimes occurring in Harris County and Houston [Dallas County and Dallas]. We urge you and your team to investigate these two abortion clinics to ensure that the law is being followed to its fullest extent.
This letter also provides a legal explanation and reasoning about the current state of Texas law regarding this matter and how these abortion groups may be violating the law. Texas Right to Life anticipates a swift response to this letter in word and action—hoping that Houston and Dallas law enforcement officials will do their due diligence in investigating these cases and enforcing the law.
