Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights advocates filed a lawsuit against top Texas officials over a ban on abortion services during the coronavirus pandemic.
The groups are asking for a court for an immediate temporary restraining order to block the ban from going into effect.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Western District of Texas, argues that the state’s ban is unconstitutional and deprives people “of their fundamental right to determine when and whether to have a child or to add to their existing families.”
.@GovAbbott doesn’t think abortion is essential or, apparently, time-sensitive.
He’s wrong.
So: we’re suing, with our friends at @ReproRights and The Lawyering Project. See you in court. pic.twitter.com/FIQJeKgK4l
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) March 25, 2020
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, on Monday, ordered that all abortions “not medically necessary to preserve the life or health” of the mother must be temporarily stopped as part of the state’s mandate to suspend nonessential procedures and open up resources to combat the coronavirus.
“Elected leaders are expending valuable time and resources exploiting a global pandemic to score political points instead of rallying to respond to this crisis,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Paxton asserted that it is abortion providers who are acting in bad faith.
“It is unconscionable that abortion providers are fighting against the health of Texans and withholding desperately needed supplies and personal protective equipment in favor of a procedure that they refer to as a ‘choice,’” he tweeted.
It is unconscionable that abortion providers are fighting against the health of Texans and withholding desperately needed supplies and
personal protective equipment in favor of a procedure that they refer to as a ‘choice.’— Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) March 26, 2020
