(Houston, TX) – Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) led members of the Texas delegation calling on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to reverse an effective ban on abortion procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic.  In March, AG Paxton announced that Governor Greg Abbott’s emergency order banning elective surgeries and procedures included abortions.  Although a federal appeals court struck down the restriction as applied to medical abortions—abortions using hormone pills rather than an interventional procedure—access to abortion procedures is still limited for families across the state.

Representatives Al Green (TX-09), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30), Lloyd Doggett (TX-35), Marc Veasey (TX-33), and Colin Allred (TX-32) joined Congresswoman Fletcher in a letter sent to AG Paxton today. 

The members highlight: “Banning abortion at this time does not increase the safety or security of Texans – rather, it creates more barriers to their reproductive health care and limits their constitutional rights.”

“We face an unprecedented health crisis.  As Texans, we must work to ensure that every Texan has access to affordable, time-sensitive, and essential health care they need at this time, including abortion care,” they conclude.  “That is why we ask you to ask you to stop treating abortion differently under Governor Abbott’s order and instead allow physicians to make medical decisions about essential health care during this unprecedented global health pandemic on the same terms as all other medical care.”

The full text of the letter is available here.