These Texas DAs Will Refuse to Prosecute Women if Roe Is Overturned

[riversedge]

Source: the nation


“We cannot condone such cruelty or this distorted use of our criminal legal system,” the prosecutors argued in April.

By John Nichols Today 12:09 pm


District Attorney José Garza. (Photo by Spencer Selvidge for The Washington Post via Getty Images)


Travis County, Tex., District Attorney José Garza reacted to the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade with an announcement that his office would not prosecute women for their health care choices. “In Travis County, we know our community is safer when women and families can make personal healthcare and reproductive decisions without interference from the state,” said Garza, whose jurisdiction includes Austin and surrounding communities. “I promise to continue fighting for the rights of women and to use my discretion to keep families safe.”

That’s a consequential statement in Texas, where a so-called trigger law would outlaw abortion in the state if and when the high court’s majority of right-wing judicial activists overturns almost five decades of judicial precedent. And Garza is not alone. The chief prosecutors in five of the state’s largest counties have signaled that their offices “will not criminalize or prosecute personal healthcare decisions.”

The prosecutors—including Garza, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales, Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez, and Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton—argued even before the leak of the draft opinion:................................

Read more: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/texas-district-attorneys/

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[LudwigPastorius]

1. Right on.

"One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

“Let us put it generally: if a regime is immoral, its subjects are free from all obligations to it.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Books V-VII

[ancianita]

2. Good for them. But it's not good enough. This issue is a constitutional issue, not a states issue.

If they put cases into their district courts, they can put their legal minds to work on behalf of the TX 50%.

[Skittles]

3. PREACH IT

REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE IN FASCISM

[AZLD4Candidate]

4. That's wonderful. I hope he feels the same way about prison for those caught with drugs

for the medical condition of addiction too.

Now, that would be the icing on the cake for me.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

6. +1 (nt)

[Hugh_Lebowski]

5. Guessing there will be NO abortion clinics in TX, so ...

How often are they going to even see a case across their desk with no place in the state to even get one, I wonder?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Texas district attorney offices would become a new battleground

I know one of the district attorneys in this group. He is running unopposed in the general election in 2022. The District Attorneys are amazing

Link to tweet

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/21/abortion-texas-lizelle-herrera-prosecutors/?utm_campaign=trib-social&utm_content=1651867274&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

But even within Texas, there may be two distinct realities. Five Texas district attorneys — from Dallas, Travis, Bexar, Nueces and Fort Bend counties — have publicly promised that they will not pursue abortion-related criminal charges if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Others are expected to quietly decline to take these cases.

Travis County District Attorney José Garza said he does not believe his office should be involved in criminalizing personal medical decisions between a pregnant person and their doctor.

“We are very focused on holding accountable people who commit acts of violence in our community,” he said. “Pulling resources away from that to focus on this kind of case would be reckless and endanger the safety of our community.”

In other jurisdictions, though, district attorneys may take an opposite approach, either due to personal anti-abortion leanings or political pressure.

Owen, who authored a report on abortion-related criminalization, said there’s a useful foreshadowing in how voter fraud cases have played out in recent years.

“These cases don’t get prosecuted evenly across the state,” she said. “They get prosecuted selectively, often in counties where there’s a district attorney’s race going on. … It’s really up to the discretion of the particular district attorney.”

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. Five Texas DAs, has issued a statement condemning Texas' efforts to criminalize abortion

These district attorneys make me proud of the legal profession in Texas. I know one of the DAs and he is a good man. These District Attorneys have pledged not to prosecute any women who has an abortion

Link to tweet

[Dan]

9. I think that if a person is accused of a crime (abortion related)

They should ask for a jury trial - and the decent people of America on the juries, should practice Jury Nulification. If enough people do this - then they will never be able to enforce a law against abortion.