Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins defended in the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals the constitutionality of Texas’s law barring live-dismemberment abortions. These violent second-trimester abortions, in which abortion doctors rip an unborn child apart with forceps while the child is still alive in her mother’s womb, causing the unborn child to bleed to death, are clearly prohibited under Texas Senate Bill 8.

“The Supreme Court previously held that states may pass laws to protect and foster respect for unborn life, and that is exactly what Texas did with Senate Bill 8. Live-dismemberment abortions are barbaric, ghastly procedures. No just society should tolerate tearing a living human being to pieces,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Defending the sanctity of life continues to be one of my top priorities, and I am confident that Texas has lawful, constitutional authority to protect unborn babies from this abhorrent procedure. We must treat the most vulnerable human lives in our society with dignity and respect.”

Senate Bill 8 ensures more humane treatment of unborn children while still allowing forms of second-trimester abortion that abortion providers in Texas admit are safe and effective.