Federal Appeals Court Backs AG’s Threat to Fine, Jail Abortion Providers During COVID-19 Pandemic Just Days After He Declares Gun Stores Are Essential Businesses
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2020
Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller has the following statement regarding today’s decision by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily allowing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to enforce his threat to fine or jail abortion providers who perform the procedure during the COVID-19 pandemic:
“Just days after declaring gun stores are essential businesses that can stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ken Paxton is celebrating an appeals court decision supporting his threat to fine or jail any medical provider who honors a woman’s constitutional right to decide whether or not to have an abortion. It’s hard to imagine a more tortured legal path than the one blazed by the attorney general over the past few days. He has thrown out the window any pretense that he cares about anything other than cynically exploiting a national health emergency to bar women from getting the essential, time-sensitive reproductive health care they need with the help of their doctors.”
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The Texas Freedom Network is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization building an informed and effective movement for equality and social justice.
