Today, Planned Parenthood and a cadre of other Texas pro-abortion organizations filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas district judges, Texas Health and Human Services, and others in a desperate attempt to scare and bully them and any potential suing parties into submission regarding the Texas Heartbeat Act (S.B. 8), which prohibits abortions after the detection of the preborn baby’s heartbeat.
Regarding today’s challenge, Jonathan Saenz, president and attorney for Texas Values said:
“This lawsuit is a complete joke and is nothing more than a baseless scare tactic with no legal footing. This predictable filing sues government officials who are already excluded from being involved in the enforcement of this law. It is also a desperate attempt by abortion advocates to intimidate and bully Texan citizens hoping they will be afraid to protect babies with a detectable heartbeat. Planned Parenthood and abortion groups massively profit from the killing of babies, and this heartbeat law has real teeth that threatens their bloody pocketbooks.”
On May 19, 2021, Governor Greg Abbott signed into law the Texas Heartbeat Act which requires physicians to check for a baby’s heartbeat and inform the mother if the presence of a heartbeat is detected, which is around 5 to 6 weeks gestation. A preborn baby’s beating heart has become a key medical predictor that he or she will reach live birth. Once a heartbeat is detected, the doctor must take all medically appropriate steps to protect the baby’s life. The Texas Heartbeat Act makes it nearly impossible for the courts to block. It creates a civil liability for a person who performs, aids, or abets in an abortion after a heartbeat is detected and empowers citizens to file civil actions to enforce it. It is not enforced by any officer or employee of a state, or local governmental entity in the state.
The City of Lubbock, Texas recently passed an ordinance that bans all abortions within its city limits, and just like the Texas Heartbeat Act, this ordinance is also enforceable through a private right of action. Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit there but the judge threw it out saying that Planned Parenthood did not have standing to sue the city. The law went into effect on June 1 as prescribed and as a result, the Planned Parenthood in Lubbock has been banned from committing abortions there since then.
The Texas Heartbeat Act will go into effect on September 1, 2021.
About Texas Values
Texas Values is the largest statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to standing for faith, family, and freedom in Texas. More information is available at txvalues.org.
