On the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to return the decision of abortion back to the states, pro-life advocates are celebrating Sanctity of Life Day.
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that there is no constitutional right to an abortion, overturning the decades-long precedent set by Roe v. Wade. As a result, most abortions became illegal in Texas under a previously-passed trigger law that outlawed abortion if Roe v. Wade was overturned.
In response, the Office of the Attorney General in Texas closed its offices at noon that day as a memorial to the millions of children who were aborted during the 49 years the Roe decision stood. The OAG continued this tradition in 2023, celebrating the first anniversary of the end of Roe v. Wade.
“The legacy wrought by Roe v. Wade and other illegitimate partisan judicial decisions directly led to the deaths of an estimated 70 million children,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Following the overturning of that disastrous legal precedent, I instituted the Sanctity of Life Day within the OAG to serve as a day of remembrance and a celebration of the progress we have made in protecting innocent life.”
Paxton emphasized while progress has been made, there is still work to be done. “The Biden Administration continues to use unlawful agency regulations and other levers of power to force states to institute its radical abortion agenda even when it violates state laws. I will never stop defending the sanctity of life against these unconstitutional attempts to undermine Texas’s life-affirming laws,” he added.
Dr. John Seago, the President of Texas Right to Life called Roe v. Wade “the court’s worst decision in our nation’s history.”
“In Roe v Wade, through blatant judicial activism, the highest court in our country disregarded our Constitution, stole the right to life from millions of Americans, and short-circuited the checks and balances of our democratic republic form of Government. In 2022, with three new Justices appointed by President Trump, the Supreme Court officially restored our Constitutional order by getting out of the way and allowing the democratic process to debate & legislate the profound moral issue of abortion. In Texas, we’ve had that debate and decided to stand firmly for Life,” Seago told Texas Scorecard.
The Republican Party of Texas echoed these sentiments in a statement celebrating the anniversary. “Two years ago today, June 24th, 2022, became a historic day for the pro-life movement and the Texas GOP,” the statement read. “Pro-life advocates worked for a generation to reverse one of the most unjust, damaging, and plainly incorrect judicial decisions in our nation’s history.”
Their statement also highlighted significant financial commitments made by Texas to support new and expecting mothers.
“In the last state budget, Texas allocated an unprecedented $165 million dollars to helping new and expecting mothers through our Thriving Texas Families program. Texas must be the most pro-life State in America. We should be the state with the lowest cost of adoption in the nation while continuing to provide assistance to mothers in need both during and after their pregnancies,” the statement continued.
The Texas GOP underscored its commitment to advocating for pro-life policies. “The mainstream media won’t report on Texas’s pro-life, pro-pregnancy culture, but the Texas GOP will champion our policies and advocate for our pro-life platform policies to be prioritized next session.”
The Democrat Party of Texas’ platform, meanwhile, maintains that the party will “Fight for the human right to an abortion.”
