~ A federal judge has struck down Texas’ unconstitutional abortion ban; Herring filed an amicus brief supporting DOJ’s motion to block the unlawful law ~

RICHMOND (October 6, 2021) – A federal judge has struck down Texas’ unconstitutional abortion ban, after Attorney General Herring filed an amicus brief in support of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) challenge to Texas’ new, unlawful six-week ban on abortions.

“Not only was Texas’ abortion ban blatantly unconstitutional, it deprived women of making their own choices about their own bodies, and ultimately their own lives,” said Attorney General Herring. “We are seeing an alarming number of restrictive laws across this country trying to limit a woman’s right to choose what she does with her own body. Today’s ruling proves, once again, that a person’s right to an abortion is protected under the Constitution and any attempts to eliminate that right should, and will, be struck down.

“I was proud to stand with my colleagues in fighting to block this unconstitutional law, and as long as I am attorney general, I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that the constitutional right to an abortion is protected.”

Judge Robert Pitman in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division concluded his opinion saying, “From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution. That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.”

Attorney General Herring has been a strong advocate for women’s healthcare and reproductive rights in Virginia. Last month, Attorney General Herring led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. Wilson arguing that South Carolina’s six-week abortion ban harms women’s healthcare and a lower court’s ruling blocking the law should be upheld. He has stood against attacks on women’s reproductive freedom and has fought in court to defend women’s access to comprehensive healthcare services, including abortion and birth control. He issued an official advisory opinion that helped protect women’s health clinics from expensive and medically unnecessary retrofits that would have closed many Virginia clinics that offer abortion services. Attorney General Herring successfully fought alongside his colleagues in the Whole Women’s Health case to strike down Texas’s onerous, medically unnecessary regulations and he has fought for women’s reproductive justice around the country, working with colleagues to oppose medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion in Ohio and Alabama. Additionally, he continuously fought against the Trump Administration’s attacks on women’s access to the full range of reproductive health care services and contraception options.

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