Attorney General Herring condemns Supreme Court decision to allow Texas ban to remain in effect during legal challenges

RICHMOND (December 10, 2021) – Attorney General Herring issued the below statement following this morning’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows legal challenges brought by healthcare providers against Texas’ blatantly unconstitutional abortion ban to move forward, but fails to enjoin the illegal ban while those challenges proceed through the courts:

“I am incredibly disappointed in the Court’s ruling today, and sadly this decision gives us a glimpse into how they plan on handling abortion cases moving forward, with little regard for decades of constitutional precedent,” said Attorney General Herring. “Texas should not be allowed to continue with its blatantly unconstitutional and illegal abortion ban while it is being challenged in court. Period. Texans have been burdened with this disgusting law for too long, and they should be allowed to make their own decisions about their reproductive healthcare once again.

“I’m proud of the work I have done alongside my colleagues to protect the constitutional right to an abortion in Texas and around the country – and I will never let up on this fight.”

Attorney General Herring has been in court from the outset fighting back against Texas’ unconstitutional abortion ban. He and his colleagues have filed numerous amicus briefs on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice in support of their challenge to Texas law.

Attorney General Herring has been a strong advocate for women’s healthcare and reproductive rights in Virginia. Last month, Attorney General Herring led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. Wilson arguing that South Carolina’s six-week abortion ban harms women’s healthcare and a lower court’s ruling blocking the law should be upheld. He has stood against attacks on women’s reproductive freedom and has fought in court to defend women’s access to comprehensive healthcare services, including abortion and birth control. He issued an official advisory opinion that helped protect women’s health clinics from expensive and medically unnecessary retrofits that would have closed many Virginia clinics that offer abortion services. Attorney General Herring successfully fought alongside his colleagues in the Whole Women’s Health case to strike down Texas’s onerous, medically unnecessary regulations and he has fought for women’s reproductive justice around the country, working with colleagues to oppose medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion in Ohio and Alabama. Additionally, he continuously fought against the Trump Administration’s attacks on women’s access to the full range of reproductive health care services and contraception options.