Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is using the coronavirus pandemic to further the GOP’s war against women. Paxton has issued an order banning abortion services in what he claims is an attempt to “expand hospital bed capacity as the state responds to the COVID-19 virus,” CBS News reports.
Many if not most abortions do not require hospital beds.
The only abortions that Paxton (photo) says he will allow are those deemed “medically necessary,”
The order reads: “Health Care Professionals and Facilities, Including Abortion Providers, Must Immediately Stop All Medically Unnecessary Surgeries and Procedures to Preserve Resources to Fight COVID-19 Pandemic.”
Paxton says “all licensed health care professionals and all licensed health care facilities, including abortion providers, that, pursuant to Executive Order GA 09 issued by Gov. Greg Abbott, they must postpone all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately medically necessary.”
Abortions necessary “to preserve the life of” the mother will be allowed.
“We must work together as Texans to stop the spread of COVID-19 and ensure that our health care professionals and facilities have all the resources they need to fight the virus at this time,” Paxton’s order also says. “No one is exempt from the governor’s executive order on medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures, including abortion providers. Those who violate the governor’s order will be met with the full force of the law.”