Ken Paxton issues threat after judge ruled this week that Cox, a pregnant woman with a lethal fetal diagnosis, can get an abortion
Ken Paxton issues threat after judge ruled this week that Cox, a pregnant woman with a lethal fetal diagnosis, can get an abortion
The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has threatened to prosecute any doctor who provides an abortion to Kate Cox, a woman with a non-viable pregnancy, advising hospitals to ignore a court order issued on Thursday allowing her to get the procedure.
The rightwing Paxton issued the warning to three Houston-area hospitals after a Texas judge ruled this week that Cox, a pregnant woman with a lethal fetal diagnosis, may obtain an abortion under the narrow medical exceptions offered by the state bans.
In a brazen dismissal of the court’s decision, Paxton wrote that the judge’s order “will not insulate hospitals, doctors or anyone else from civil and criminal liability”.
Paxton also wrote that the hospital where Cox obtains an abortion “may be liable for negligent credentialing the physician” who performs the procedure.
An attorney general is “advising hospitals to ignore a court order”.
Read that sentence again.
He is supposed to be an officer of the court. It is his job to uphold the law, regardless of how he feels about it personally. The judge ruled explicitly on this particular woman’s specific situation - there is no reasonable room for interpretation here.
This man is putting his own opinion above the rule of law. He is radically unsuited for his job and deserves to be disbarred.
This guy is under an FBI investigation and felony fraud charges. He is ignoring the court because he holds a criminal mindset and has zero respect for the law.
As a physician, I am completely lost as to why any OB-GYN (or other healthcare professional, for that matter) still feels comfortable practicing in the state of Texas.
They literally criminalized healthcare and turned doctors into potential perps. I'd be terrified that a patient unplanned miscarriage would turn into a murder investigation with me as the primary suspect.
I could totally see Texas go after a physician with SWAT and trash their house and kill their dog when bringing them in
just to make an example for everyone else.
Sad but I can’t imagine practicing in Texas and feeling safe.
Given the diagnosis and complications that have already occurred, this seems like it goes beyond contempt of court to me. I would consider this to be attempted murder of the mother.
“While the Biden administration continues to make up rules that are unconstitutional, I will keep holding them accountable,” Paxton said in a statement released earlier this year. “I will not allow the Biden administration to threaten doctors and hospitals with this unlawful mandate and put millions of Texans’ access to healthcare on the line.”
The "party" p is lowercase because the name is not referring to a proper political party but rather to a group of people came together to have fun among themselves while making the lives of everyone else a living hell, just like frats do during off-seasons.
Well careful now... Mike Johnson was ordained by God, almost a second Moses, and those rights to rule are not from government but the Almighty. And we all know Anger isn't from God but from the devil.
/s (if it wasn't obvious)
Keep banning books and privatizing schools folks, this is the indoctrination we'll end up with.
Reading this as a non-American, it feels surreal. How can such a basic right be stripped from all women, and then have men stand up and defend such a disgusting situation. Do they have no shame? No moral compass?
Americans probably don't meet the legal requirements yet because there are still a lot of places in the US where you can escape this kind of fuckery. Things could easily change in a few years, though, if people on the left keep acting like spoiled brats and refuse to vote against Trump and company.
I don't like the other person's response about republican shame/morality. I think it's important to understand why these people do the things they do. Pretending they're mustache-twirlingly evil doesn't do anything but blind you to their rhetoric and remove your options for dealing with them. It's hyperbole (in most cases) and makes fence-sitters less likely to believe you.
No moral compass?
Their moral compass is defined by christian nationalism. There are in-groups that must be supported and protected (republicans, white "upstanding" americans, whatever they presume that is), and out-groups that must be punished/jailed/worse (LGBTQ+, minorities, anyone left of Ron DeSantis).
They do this because their christian nationalism beliefs inform them that women need to be controlled, and they're using the medical system to do this. If this was Paxton's wife, he would have gotten her an "abortion" without noise, but I struggle to even use that word to describe what this woman needs. Her child is already dead. I mourn for her.
They cannot allow any legal exceptions for the common folk, so this woman must suffer. (Edit: And, this woman is highlighting that their system is unjust, so she is getting punished for it). They believe a woman's place is only as a child rearer, homemaker, and low-skilled labor. It is deeply cruel, true, but they also think it's justified. Ordinary Americans are appalled by these beliefs, and they need to be revealed for what they are.
Some of these republicans have never even heard of angry mobs pulling people who destroy their lives out of their homes and returning the favor. Just fucking with people with impunity.
Emotionally I'm with you, but I don't want that to be back on the table where anyone can decide to use it again. Because you know the type of people who would use it first.
That's what protests originally were for. The reason they're called demonstrations is because you're demonstrating the number of people that will be armed and angry if the people in power ignore you. Without that implied threat, they're at most mildly inconvenient. It's meant to be a final check and balance, if you fuck up badly enough, the people beat you to death and burn your house down.
It should never have to come to that, but taking it off the table entirely renders the first step a bit pointless.
Not exactly. There was a nice lady at the bus stop I was having a normal conversation with, and after 10 or 15 minutes she suddenly started talking angrily about how "blacks" are "lazy" and always on the news for doing something.
I was speechless, so she turned to me and asked, "do you like the blacks?" I slowly nodded my head, it was all I could do, I was so shocked. Then she goes "oh, okay," and just drops the subject. Now I'm shocked for a second time at how damn polite this woman is about such a hateful belief.
Later on, the bus comes, and we get on. For context, the driver is a black man, and there are a few other people on the bus, none of them white. She has a very friendly conversation with the driver, and a one point she turns to me, and she tries to tell me he's one of the good "blacks," except instead of "blacks" she makes a vague gesture with her hand and adds, "like I was telling you about."
All this to say, I was too baffled to call her an idiot. Sorry for going way off topic, I've just been stuck on that weird interaction all day. I mean, I've met racist people before, but I've never been treated so much like one of the "in group" that agrees with them, especially after saying that I don't. For that matter, I've never been politely asked, "Do you like the blacks?" before. Ugh, sorry. Just a weird day.
He just interfered with this woman's ability to pursue legal Healthcare to protect her life. If she dies as a result of the medical complications associated with the pregnancy, I don't see how he doesn't get charged with manslaughter at a minimum.
It would be very difficult to charge him because prosecutors have absolute immunity for charging decisions. Even if any other prosecutor wanted to charge him they would have a very high bar to prove he overstepped his role as a prosecutor.
Sadly I agree with with your point. While I, as someone who is definitely not a prosecutor, think there is a pretty strong case that he is using the power of his office to prevent someone from exercising their legal freedoms to try to survive, I am ignorant of how charges like that could be brought and expect that Paxton enjoys some pretty broad protections, whether his position should or not.
I feel like that's all that's needed to drop a SLAPP suit on him, which is Ironic because Anti-SLAPP laws are one of the areas where Texas is actually ahead of the curve