Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Upholds Gov. Abbott's Abortion Order In a victory for life this week, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily overruled a federal judge’s injunction against Governor Greg Abbott’s order that postponed any unnecessary medical procedures, including abortion. This means that abortion will continue to be stopped in Texas as part of the state’s emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had filed for immediate appellate review in the Fifth Circuit to enforce Governor Abbott’s March 21 Executive Order after Federal judge Lee Yeakel had initially ruled that the abortion industry must be allowed to continue killing unborn children. Texas Values has now filed a legal brief at the Fifth Circuit, signed on by 13 other pro-life organizations, strongly arguing that states may suspend access to abortion to preserve the lives of those threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our legal brief argues, “But their [Abortion providers] claim that the Constitution requires the judiciary to impose their twisted priorities on elected officials who are trying to save as many lives as possible during a global pandemic is preposterous. Mandamus is necessary to remind these blinkered ideologues that there are some things more important than access to abortion, and the need to protect human life and safety during a deadly and catastrophic pandemic is one of them.” | |
