Bexar County Sheriff Refuses to Enforce Texas Anti-Abortion Law

SAN ANTONIO, TX — The sheriff of Bexar County said he will not enforce a law banning abortion in Texas. Texas has a “trigger law” in place that will ban all abortions from the moment of fertilization starting 30 days after the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade and took away the constitutional right to have an abortion.

The outright abortion ban in Texas is triggered from the day the Supreme Court issues its official judgement in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case from Mississippi. That official announcement usually happens 30 days from the day the decision was announced.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar is a Democrat (all sheriffs in Texas are elected). He took to Facebook and voiced his opinion Saturday, slamming the “bureaucrats in Washington D.C. and Austin who are attempting to impose their own supposed morals on others.”

“They will not use my badge or the color of my office to do so,” Sheriff Salazar vowed.

The sheriff’s full statement:

“I’m the Sheriff of Bexar County, but also a Dad of two beautiful and intelligent young women. As their Dad I will defend my daughters’ ability to do what they feel is right with their own bodies and to love whomever they choose.  As their Dad, I have no control over their adult bodies.  As their Sheriff, it is absolutely none of my business.   I will not persecute Texas women or anyone else pursuing those same rights.

“Shame on the Supreme Court and the bureaucrats in Washington D.C. and Austin who are attempting to impose their own supposed morals on others. They will not use my badge or the color of my office to do so.   My job is chasing predators, rapists, and human traffickers, not someone exercising a right.

“If it’s religion those career politicians would like to enforce, then they should remember that there are many other commandments in scripture that they themselves have very publicly chosen to ignore.

“If it’s truly about protecting children, how about starting with the ones in our schools?” Stated Sheriff Salazar.

Abortion will also be banned in all neighboring states except for New Mexico. There are three abortion clinics in Albuquerque that perform the procedure. In addition, Planned Parenthood states that an abortion pill is effective through 11 weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion pills are different from what are commonly known as morning after pills. Where an abortion pill actually induces an abortion, the morning after pill aims to prevent the egg from being fertilized. Abortion pills require a prescription; morning after pills do not.

In Texas, abortion pills will be outlawed by the “trigger law,” and morning after pills will remain legal. There already is in place a network of online pharmacies and activist pro-abortion non-profits that will mail abortion pills to patients in Texas, even after the ban takes place. As Sheriff Salazar’s statement indicates, although the practice of mailing abortion pills to Texas residents will be illegal, it may be difficult to prosecute anyone who does, especially if even elected sheriffs refuse to enforce that law.