Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy issued a statement Wednesday condemning a federal lawsuit against the Texas Heartbeat Bill.
Roy attacked a lawsuit against the Texas Heartbeat Bill filed by pro-abortion groups. The Texas Heartbeat Bill bans abortions after six weeks. According to The Mayo Clinic, this is the point when an unborn baby develops a heartbeat. Roy’s office released the following statement against legal challenges to the bill.
“Abortion extremists are once again on parade to the courthouse in their latest attempt to block a democratically passed law because it dares to protect innocent, unborn children from the lies of the abortion industry. The courts should reject this brazenly politicized lawsuit on its face.” Roy went on, “The will of the people to protect the right to life of the unborn must be respected. We must resolve to reclaim our right to self-government, not bow to the whims of unelected lawyers in black robes.”
The lawsuit was filed in an Austin federal court by groups such as Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and the Center for Reproductive Rights, according to The Hill. These groups claim that the bill violates a constitutional right to abortion.
The bill “allows complete strangers, anti-abortion activists, to sue and interfere with the patient’s decision,” Senior Counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights Marc Hearron told The Texas Tribune. He went on, “Those people may try to essentially hijack the courts for their ideological agenda.”
(RELATED: Texas Passes Abortion Ban Protecting ‘Every Unborn Child With A Heartbeat’)
Planned Parenthood and partners are fighting back against a new Texas law (SB8), which starting on September 1, will effectively ban abortion in the state — and includes a provision that deputizes private citizens to “enforce” the law. https://t.co/sClmFhuKaG
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) July 13, 2021
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted a video of himself signing the Texas Heartbeat Bill on social media. He said, “Our creator endowed us with the right to life and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion. In Texas, we work to save those lives.”