12.7.23 – Texas Attorney General – Press Release
“Pro-Life Laws Still in Effect - TX Attorney General Paxton Responds to Travis Co. Judge”
From Donna Garner
[COMMENTS FROM DONNA GARNER: While abortionists, Planned Parenthood, and the leftist media were so busy yesterday celebrating what they thought was the return of abortions to Texas, TAG Paxton sent out an official press release including a letter to three Texas hospitals (Houston Methodist Hospital, The Women's Hospital of Texas in Houston, and Texans Children's Hospital in Houston).
TAG Paxton warned them and the public that if they take part in helping women to get abortions in defiance of Texas’ abortion laws, they will experience the stiff and legal consequences under the law:
- first degree felony prosecutions
- not less than $100,000 for each violation
- lawsuits brought by private citizens against doctors, their staffs, and hospitals
- district or county attorneys enforcing the Texas abortion laws against Dr. Karstan and all others who participate in providing abortions
TAG Paxton also reminded the pro-aborts that Texas’ abortion laws would still be in place long after the Travis County District Judge’s temporary restraining order had ceased.
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AUSTIN – THE TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER (“TRO”) GRANTED BY THE TRAVIS COUNTY DISTRICT JUDGE PURPORTING TO ALLOW AN ABORTION TO PROCEED WILL NOT INSULATE HOSPITALS, DOCTORS, OR ANYONE ELSE, FROM CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR VIOLATING TEXAS’ ABORTION LAWS.
THIS INCLUDES FIRST DEGREE FELONY PROSECUTIONS, Texas health & Safety Code § 170A.004, AND CIVIL PENALTIES OF NOT LESS THAN $100,000 FOR EACH VIOLATION, Tex. Health & Safety Code §§ 170A.005, 171.207-211.
AND WHILE THE TRO PURPORTS TO TEMPORARILY ENJOIN [STOP] ACTIONS BROUGHT BY THE OAG AND TMB AGAINST DR. KARSAN AND HER STAFF, IT DOES NOT ENJOIN [STOP] ACTIONS BROUGHT BY PRIVATE CITIZENS Tex. Health & Safety Code § ¬¬171.207.
NOR DOES IT PROHIBIT A DISTRICT OR COUNTY ATTORNEY FROM ENFORCING TEXAS’ PRE-ROE ABORTION LAWS AGAINST DR. KARSAN OR ANYONE ELSE.
THE TRO WILL EXPIRE LONG BEFORE THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR VIOLATING TEXAS’ ABORTION LAWS EXPIRES.
[In other words, Texas’ abortion laws will stay in place long after this temporary decision by Travis County District Judge is in place.]
To read the TAG Ken Paxton’s letter, please go here: https://twitter.com/TXAG/status/1732849903154450622
To read the Texas Supreme Court’s late-night 12.8.23 stay that temporarily blocked the Travis County District Judge’s decision to allow the abortion, please go here: https://reproductiverights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/23-0994_23-0994-Order-Issued-12-8-23.pdf
IMPORTANT NOTE: On 11.28.23, the Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Zurawski v. Texas which the Center for Reproductive Rights filed for 20 women denied abortions.
That decision from the Texas Supreme Court could take until the end of June 2023.
Dr. Damla Karsan, the OB-GYN abortion doctor, is also involved in that case.