Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson said Tuesday that he will not continue Ken Paxton's practice of suing doctors in other states who send abortion medication to patients in Texas. Paxton gave up the attorney general's job to run for the U.S. Senate. Johnson said the attorney general cannot change abortion law. "What I can do is cease using Texas abortion laws as an instrument of persecution and intimidation, harassment and political showboating," he told The Texas Tribune.
It is illegal for Texas doctors to mail abortion medication within the state, according to the report. Abortion advocates say Paxton's lawsuits chilled Texans from obtaining these pills. Those lawsuits have run up against blue states' shield laws that protect doctors who send the medication. Johnson said, "I can honor other states' shield laws."
Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa cannot repeal the abortion ban on her own, the report said. Hinojosa has said she would work to end penalties for doctors who perform life-saving abortions. University of Houston political professor Brandon Rottinghaus said she could greatly affect how the law is applied. John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life, said he is concerned that incoming Democratic leadership could reverse decades of Republican-led restrictions on the procedure.