Attorney General Ken Paxton today vowed to continue fighting to honor the life of the unborn after a U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of Texas’ new rule on fetal tissue remains. Attorney General Paxton plans to appeal the court’s injunction.
“Texas has chosen to dignify the life of the unborn by requiring the humane disposition of fetal remains,” Attorney General Paxton said. “These rules would simply prevent health care facilities from disposing of the remains of the unborn in sewers or landfills. Today’s ruling, however, reaffirms that the abortion lobby has grown so extreme that it will reject any and every regulation no matter how sensible. Indeed, no longer content with merely ending the life of the unborn, the radical left now objects to even the humane treatment of fetal remains. Texas stands committed to honoring the dignity of the unborn and my office is proud to continue fighting for these new rules.”
The new rules require clinics and health care providers to inter fetal tissue through burial, cremation, or the spreading of ashes. Current Texas rules allow fetal remains to be ground and discharged into a sewer system, incinerated, or sent to a landfill. As the attorney general’s office explained to the court, the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that states may express their respect for the unborn as long as they do not impose a substantial obstacle to a woman’s right to a pre-viability abortion. The rules proposed by Texas impose no such obstacle. People will be able to comply with the amended rules at minimal or no cost, and their patients’ constitutional rights will not be disturbed.