Recently, there have been plenty of repercussions to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as well as new revelations that came out of the Jan 6 committee. Suffice it to say that this has been a busy news week on all accounts.
Texas Tribune’s James Barragán is at work going through these stories as they unfold – and afterwards – and what he’s seeing includes the fallout resulting from Roe’s overturn. There have been statements issued by Texas AG Ken Paxton which have left watchers concerned whether other rights could be targeted, following the federal abortion protection being dismantled.
“One of the main things that came out of the Roe v. Wade opinion was Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in which he pushed the court to go even further in restricting other unenumerated rights, such as same-sex marriage and same-sex intimacy, along with contraception,” Barragán said.
In one of the interviews he sat appeared in, Paxton was asked whether Texas would pass any legislation banning same-sex intimacy, should the Supreme Court decide to overturn the current ruling. He said, he would defend state law, which goes to mean that this is an issue that should be the state’s to decide. As can be expected, this has brought on a lot of controversy.
“Most of the court is saying that’s not really up for debate,” Barragán said. “But Clarence Thomas is saying that. And so if there’s one person on the court saying that, that obviously sparks debate about how many more other people feel that way … But currently it is not an imminent problem because there is no such law that anybody is pushing forward.”