filed an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in support of the federal governments refusal to comply with an unlawfully-present minor aliens request to have an abortion in Texas.
The 17-year-old (Doe") illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico without her parents and is under the legal custody of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) which is caring for her and her unborn child at a shelter in Brownsville.
Texas has a legitimate and substantial intereset in preserving and promoting fetal life" Paxton said.
Joining Texas on the amicus brief are the attorneys general of:- Arkansas
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Nebraska
- Ohio
- Oklahoma and
- South Carolina
- View the amicus brief here.
Doe" first filed a lawsuit in Texas state court asking for an order compelling HHS to take her to get an abortion" said Paxton (right.)
The ACLU argues that the Constitution confers on unlawfully-present aliens the right to an abortion on demand even when they have no ties to the U.S. other than the fact of their arrest while present unlawfully. If Doe has a right to an abortion it is difficult to imagine what other constitutional protections she would not enjoy by extension" Attorney General Paxton said.
The free-for-all that would flow from that perverse incentive burdens the public at large as well as the governmental entities who will be tasked with honoring these newfound rights."
