Commemorating what he deems the 'Sanctity of Life Day,' Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton marked the second anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24. The ruling notably shifted the authority over abortion laws back to individual states. In a gesture of solemn remembrance for what Paxton calls "the millions of children killed by abortions," the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) closed its offices at noon on the day of the Supreme Court decision in 2022 and has since observed the anniversary accordingly.
Paxton, a vocal opponent of Roe v. Wade, remains staunch in his view that the 1973 decision led to a tremendous loss of life. "The legacy wrought by Roe v. Wade and other illegitimate partisan judicial decisions directly led to the deaths of an estimated 70 million children," he stated. Following the landmark reversal, Paxton installed Sanctity of Life Day within the OAG to act both as a day of remembrance and as a moment to acknowledge strides he believes Texas has made in "protecting innocent life."
Paxton's message on Sanctity of Life Day extends beyond remembrance to a critique of ongoing policy discussions on abortion. The attorney general criticises the Biden Administration for what he views as attempts to override state laws with federal regulations that promise to continue access to abortion services. "The work is far from completed," Paxton proclaimed, indicating a resolve to resist what he perceives as federal encroachment on state jurisdiction regarding abortion legislation.
In his continued dedication to the anti-abortion cause, Paxton asserts, "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." Facing what he considers an ongoing battle, Paxton emphasized, "I will never stop defending the sanctity of life against these unconstitutional attempts to undermine Texas’s life-affirming laws," signaling a commitment to uphold the restrictive abortion laws that Texas has implemented since the fall of Roe v. Wade.
