AG Paxton Urges Court to Protect Baby Girl’s Right to Life

AUSTIN – On behalf of Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins today argued before the Second Court of Appeals, fighting to protect baby T.L.’s life and halt a Texas law that allows physicians, along with an ethics or medical committee, to cease life-sustaining treatment against a patient or caregiver’s wishes.

“I urge the court to protect the life of this baby girl while her family members are given the opportunity to tell their side of the story and fight for their daughter. Patients must be heard and justly represented when it comes to determining their medical treatment, especially when their life is at risk,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Life is the first constitutionally protected interest, and this case is a matter of life and death for a defenseless child. This baby girl, like all Texans, must be afforded the rights she deserves.”

In November 2019, Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas denied the baby’s mother’s request to continue life-sustaining treatment without first providing due process of law, directly violating her wishes and her daughter’s right to life. The family seeks an order from the court that will prevent the hospital from ignoring their wishes and ending their daughter’s life.

AG Paxton Joins Brief to Protect the Right to Life for Babies with Down Syndrome

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton joined 17 other states in a friend-of-the-court brief to protect babies with Down Syndrome from abortion based solely on their genetics. Despite numerous civil rights protections, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, an Ohio federal court created a categorical right to abortion, regardless of whether the reason for an abortion is clearly based on discrimination against a child with disabilities.  

“As fetal screening technology advances, the risk of eugenics-minded abortion, unfortunately, expands as well. To kill a child in the womb simply because they possess different physical or mental capabilities than their parents envisioned is a barbaric and horrifying act of discrimination against the helpless,” said Attorney General Paxton. “All life should be celebrated and all people, regardless of their genetics, should be afforded the right to life.” 

Ohio’s anti-eugenic law protects those with Down Syndrome from harm prior to their birth and opposes the demeaning stereotype that a life with disabilities is not worth living. Allowing the baseless abortion of those with Down Syndrome opens the door to increasingly dangerous discrimination in determining who is allowed to live and who must not be born at all.