District attorneys, like this one in Texas, are vowing not to prosecute abortion : NPR
District Attorney José Garza, pictured in Austin, Texas, in 2021. He is one of nearly 90 elected prosecutors from across the country who has publicly pledged not to persecute those seeking or providing abortions.
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District Attorney José Garza, pictured in Austin, Texas, in 2021. He is one of nearly 90 elected prosecutors from across the country who has publicly pledged not to persecute those seeking or providing abortions.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
The US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade leaves decisions about abortion access up to states, many of which have moved swiftly to limit it.
And while dozens of states were prepared with trigger laws that would immediately ban or restrict abortions, some are now encountering obstacles in implementation and enforcement. The pushback is coming from within their own borders, in the form of legal challenges from abortion rights advocates and opposition from local prosecutors.
Judges in states including Louisiana and Utah have temporarily blocked abortion bans from taking effect in order to hear challenges against them. And dozens of local prosecutors across the country have publicly pledged not to prosecute people who seek, facilitate or provide abortions.
in a joint statement originally issued Friday, 88 elected prosecutors — mostly district attorneys and attorneys general — vowed not to prosecute abortions, calling the criminalization of abortion care “a mockery of justice.”
The prosecutors come from counties in both blue and red states, including those with strict anti-abortion laws including Georgia and Texas. They collectively represent more than 91.5 million people from 30 states and territories as well as Washington, DC, according to Fair and Just Prosecutionthe group that organized and distributed the statement.
“Not all of us agree