Texas attorney general urges Supreme Court to allow controversial abortion law to remain in effect as challenges play out

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged the Supreme Court Thursday to allow Texas' controversial law that bars most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy to remain in effect while legal challenges play out.

He also asked the justices to deny a request from the Biden administration to leapfrog over a federal appeals court and agree to hear oral arguments this term and decide for itself whether the law passes constitutional muster. Paxton said, however, if the court does agree to add the case to its docket, the justices should use it as a vehicle to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision legalizing abortion nationwide prior to viability, which can occur at around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

"The heartbeat provisions in SB 8 reasonably further Texas's interest in protecting unborn life, which exists from the outset of pregnancy," Paxton wrote. He also said if the Supreme Court takes up the case it should overturn Roe and hold that SB 8 does not "violate the Fourteenth Amendment."