District Attorneys across the state of Texas are divided on whether to prosecute abortion cases after the US Supreme Court ended federal protections for women seeking abortions and put the decision back into the hands of individual states.
"Abortion is now illegal in Texas" Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted not long after the Supreme Court released their decision.
However, Dallas County District Attorney John Cruezot is among five other Texas district attorneys, all fellow Democrats, pledging not to prosecute abortion cases once the state's trigger law goes into effect.
Those prosecutors include Fort Bend (SW Houston) County DA Brian Middleton, Bexar County (San Antonio) DA Joe Gonzalez, Travis (Austin) County DA Jose Garza and Nueces (Corpus Christy) County DA Mark Gonzalez.
Harris County (Houston) DA Kim Ogg said her office will determine whether to prosecute abortions on a case-by-case basis.
More than 80 local prosecutor nationwide signed the pledge, which was hosted by criminal justice advocacy group Fair and Just Prosecution.
Meanwhile in Tarrant County (Fort Worth), District Attorney Sharen Wilson says she will enforce Texas laws on abortion following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last week.
Even though Texas' trigger law banning abortions officially takes effect 30 days from the issue of judgment, abortion is essentially illegal in Texas. Even with the 30 day window, the Texas Heartbeat Act is still in effect, meaning private citizens can still sue abortion providers for up to $10,000.
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