EMILYs List Statement on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Suing the Biden Administration

For Immediate Release
July 15, 2022 

EMILY's List Statement on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Suing the Biden Administration In Order to Outlaw Life-Saving Abortions

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration over its most recent executive order, which stipulated that under federal law doctors must provide life-saving medical care, including an abortion when necessary, regardless of any state laws to the contrary. Paxton’s lawsuit would allow Texas and other states to ban abortion with no exceptions, including to save the life of the pregnant person. In response, EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement: 
 
“Attorney General Paxton’s lawsuit confirms what we already knew to be true: that this has never been about protecting ‘life’ for Republicans—it has always been about controlling Americans’ ability to make decisions about their own bodies. The people of Texas deserve to be able to access the health care – including abortion care – they need without shame, stigma, or punishment from overreaching state governments. As these attacks continue, it is critical that we elect Democratic pro-choice women to office who will uphold Texan values. That’s why EMILYs List is proud to stand with Rochelle Garza, the Democratic nominee for attorney general who has spent her career fighting for reproductive freedom and civil rights.”  
 
EMILYs List-endorsed candidate for Texas attorney general, Rochelle Garza, who is seeking to unseat Paxton this November and undo his radical and extreme legacy, also released a statement:
 
“Indicted and corrupt Ken Paxton has no integrity and has made it clear that he sees women’s lives as disposable. Suing the Biden administration to stop medical exceptions for abortions is just the latest example of his extremist agenda. What he’s advocating for is femicide — the intentional killing of women by withholding life-saving care. This lawsuit does not reflect Texans’ values and we will not sit idly by while Paxton turns our state into a morgue. As Attorney General, I will keep Texans safe, and that means ensuring that everyone has access to essential medical procedures, including abortions.”

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.