If you blinked, you might have missed it: the power of judges, and presumably other highly trained experts in their fields, was canceled in Texas by Attorney General Ken Paxton. A Texas judge had granted a woman permission for an abortion because her fetus was found to have Edwards syndrome, a genetic condition.
Most babies die in utero or are stillborn; those who are born will die prematurely. Her doctors concluded that continuing the pregnancy posed a clear danger to the mother. A.G. Paxton, who must have completed med school and an internship and an OB/GYN residency and a fellowship in high-risk pregnancy when nobody was looking, overruled the judge. He stated in his filing with the Texas Supreme Court that the judge was “not medically qualified to make this determination.”
So, who is qualified to make this decision? Certainly not the woman, whose ability to bear more children may end if she is forced to continue the pregnancy. Apparently not the woman’s doctors, whom Paxton threatened with prosecution and imprisonment under Texas law, or the judge whose job it is to rule on matters of law such as this.
Take Paxton’s line of thought to its (admittedly) illogical conclusion and judges, juries, and expert testimony will no longer have a place in Texas courts. Other states will attempt to follow his lead. If any Texans are reading this, start working to get rid of this incompetent excuse for an attorney general. He may not be coming for you now, but you are just one mistake away from being on his radar.
Aharon D. Shulimson, Salt Lake City