TYLER, Texas — Editor's Note: The attached video is from December 2021.
In a statement responding to the leaked opinion from the Supreme Court over Roe v. Wade, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, who wrote Texas' "Heartbeat Law," called the 1973 decision making abortion legal a "horrible mistake."
In the draft opinion that was leaked to Politico, it shows that a majority of Supreme Court justices are in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade. Politico reported the news on Monday night; however, the leak does not indicate the court's final decision.
The opinion relates to the case challenging Mississippi's ban on abortion after 15 weeks.
Hughes wrote Texas Senate Bill 8, also labeled "The Heartbeat Law," which bans abortions once the pregnancy reaches six weeks or later. The law also allows citizens to sue an abortion provider if they believe the physician performed the procedure after the six-week mark.
The law was approved by the legislature, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott and went into effect Sept. 1 last year.
"In Roe v Wade, seven old men decided that the constitution’s assurance that no state shall 'deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law' included a right to abortion,'" Hughes said Tuesday in a statement to CBS 19.
He added there's "no right to abortion in the Constitution, and there never has been."
If Roe v. Wade were to be overturned, Hughes said it allow the citizens of each state to decide what their state's law on abortion should be.
"Here in Texas, the Heartbeat Law has already saved over twenty thousand lives, and we are devoting $100 million to help mothers who are facing difficult pregnancies," Hughes said. "Texas has proven that we can save the life of the unborn child while we love, support, and respect the mother. When the travesty of Roe v. Wade is finally on the ash heap of history, more little lives can be saved, and more mothers can be helped."