Texas Border Business
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to reverse a U.S. District Court decision against a Mississippi law restricting non-emergency abortions after 15 weeks of gestation.
“According to one recent poll, 3 out of 4 Americans agree that abortion should be restricted after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and 75 percent of countries in the world do just that, as the Mississippi Legislature found when it passed this law,” Attorney General Paxton said. “During the lawsuit, the state also submitted evidence to show the fetus can feel the pain of being ripped limb from limb during the barbaric abortion procedure performed around 15 weeks’ gestation. But the district court ignored these findings and would not allow the state to admit evidence supporting its recognized interest in protecting unborn life with this reasonable regulation.”
Mississippi enacted the Gestational Age Act last March and it was immediately challenged by the only abortion clinic in the state, which only provides a handful of abortions during the 15th week of pregnancy, and none after the 16th week begins. A U.S. District Court ultimately struck down the law late last year, ruling that it violates women’s constitutional rights.
Texas is joined on the friend-of-the-court brief by Louisiana. View a copy of the brief here.
