- And joining us now is TexasAttorney General, Ken Paxton.

Sir, thank you so much forcoming on the show this evening.

It's great to have you.

So Supreme Court Justice,Sonia Sotomayor was passionate

in her dissent, calling the Texas law

flagrantly unconstitutional

and the Supreme Court decision stunning.

Were you surprised by thecourt's decision, yourself?

- You know, you never knowwhat the court's gonna do

so I wouldn't say I was surprised.

I think they got it right.

The states have always hadthe right to regular abortion

until Roe v Wade which wasstripped from the states

with no precedent and absolutelyno constitutional basis.

And so the court hasstruggled with abortion

ever since, changing thestandards on a constant basis.

The states are always influx as to what the law is

because it's not, it'snot in statue anymore,

it's controlled by the Supreme Court

and they have, with different Justices,

they come up with different theories.

And so the law is really been unsettled

ever since they took itover and it needs to go

back to the states, for thestates to make decisions

about what's best for their people,

not dictated by the, byCongress or the Supreme Court.

- General Paxton, ChiefJustice, John Roberts

in his dissent said that theTexas order is unprecedented

in that it allows the stateto avoid responsibility

for its own law.

And critics agree sayingabortion advocates are

unable to sue the state.

Are they right?

And if so, what's theproper legal recourse?

- Well so it's actually putting the power

in the hands of thepeople and so it allows

individual causes ofaction which, you know,

we have individual causes of action

on all kinds of differentissues and people deserve

to have access to the courts.

And this is in access tothe courts for the issue

of abortion if, if thereis a cause of action

under this law that is violated

which is the six weeks or the heartbeat.

And I think it's perfectlyappropriate for individuals

to have that ability to address a wrong.

- You know, on the surface,many in the pro-life community

see this as a big victory,but some are actually saying

it's a setback for the pro-life movement

because of the bad press it's creating,

it also fires up the pro-abortionside, among other things.

What do you think about that?

Is this the best modelfor the pro-life movement

moving forward?

- You know, I actually thought it was

a very well-crafted bill.

It allows the control backto people in our state

to make decision aboutwhat they think's right

and what they think is wrong.

And certainly if you haveany type of restriction

on killing the unborn oraborting these babies,

people find that controversial.

So I, I don't know how youmake any changes in law

for the protection of theunborn without offending people

who would like to end those lives.

- Do you see that point, though?

Do you think this could backfire

on the pro-life movement, on Republicans?

I mean you say in the2022 mid-terms or in 2024

it does fire up the other side.

- Absolutely, anything that was,

anything that's done byany state that is effective

and that works is gonna fire

up the other side to comeback and try to stop it.

They don't want this ability of states

to make their own decision,which is the way it should be,

and they don't want theability of our state

to be able to have reasonablerestrictions of abortion

which is what this is.

- Abortion providers have saidthe legal and financial risks

presented by SB8 have madeit unsustainable for them

to continue functioning,rendering abortion effectively,

as some say, done with in Texas.

General Paxton, shouldthe Texas law prevail,

what does that mean forthe future of Roe v Wade?

Is this the route pro-lifeadvocates will use

to overturn that decision?

- Well this isn't the only route.

I mean, certainly that thepeople that care about the unborn

are also have, there'slaws in Mississippi that

we're taking that'sgonna be argued in front

of the Supreme Court thatmakes it a 15-week ban

which you mentioned earlier in your show.

And that one is a directassault on Roe v Wade

so it will give the court an opportunity,

my state wrote the amicus briefalong with 23 other states,

so there's 25 states thatare finally saying look,

enough is enough, this is, these,

it should be a state decision,

the court, you know, istried to control this

since 1972 and hasn't done

a particularly good job with this issue.

It's constantly changing,the states never know

what they have here, andit leaves the law uncertain

depending on which nextJustice gets appointed.

- Texas Attorney General,Ken Paxton, we appreciate you

being with us on this very big day

where Texas is making a lot of news.

Thank you so much.