Leading an 11-state coalition, Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit defending the federal government’s refusal to facilitate abortions for unlawfully-present minor aliens who were apprehended while attempting to enter the country.
In March, a district court judge ruled in Garza v. Azar that the U.S. Constitution confers on unlawfully-present aliens the right to an elective abortion that is not medically necessary, even when they have virtually no ties to the U.S.
“Unlawfully-present aliens with no substantial ties to the U.S. do not have a constitutional right to an elective abortion,” Attorney General Paxton said. “The lower court’s ruling contradicts U.S. Supreme Court precedent and harms the public interest because it incentivizes even more unlawful immigration. Texas must not become a sanctuary state for abortions.”
Last year, Attorney General Paxton led multiple friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the federal government’s right to refuse to facilitate abortions for an unlawfully-present unaccompanied minor alien (“Jane Doe”) in Texas. She was detained in a shelter after unlawfully entering the U.S. and ultimately had an abortion. Texas had been prepared to file a 12-state brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the “Doe” case.
Joining Texas on today’s friend-of-the-court brief are the attorneys general of Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia, along with the governor of Kentucky.