32 min
Brian Steward Bonus Episode on Texas Abortion Fight The Alamo Hour
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- News
Brian Steward had to come back on the show due to the changing nature of the litigation and rulings coming out of the courts about Planned Parenthood's fight with the State of Texas.
Transcript:
[music]
Justin Hill: Hello and bienvenido, San Antonio. Welcome to The Alamo Hour, discussing the people, places, and passion that make our city. My name is Justin Hill, a local attorney, a proud San Antonion, and keeper of chickens and bees. On The Alamo Hour, you'll get to hear from the people that make San Antonio great and unique and the best-kept secret in Texas. We're glad that you're here.
Okay, welcome to The Alamo Hour. This is our first attempt at a bonus episode. We have Brian Steward with us. He's rejoined us today. He will be the guest on tomorrow, which will be today's episode of The Alamo Hour, discussing Planned Parenthood's lawsuit and ongoing issues in the fight with Texas over reproductive rights and what COVID-19 means for people who are trying to exercise what has been determined to be a constitutional right to access the reproductive freedom or rights.
When he was last on the show, we discussed the course of a legal fight between the State of Texas and Planned Parenthood that centered around, as you just heard, whether or not access to abortion, abortion procedures would be outlawed during Abbott's ruling that non-essential medical procedures are put on hold during the pendency of the emergency order related to COVID-19. After his order, the next day, the Attorney General said that it includes abortion and abortion procedures. The Texas Medical Board weighed in. A lawsuit was filed. Austin Federal Judge Lee Yeakel basically said, "We're going to put that ruling on hold and allow access to reproductive rights and abortion procedures to continue until I get some evidence from you all, and we'll have a hearing--" April 13th was that, right?
Brian Steward: April 13th.
Justin Hill: Then in the meantime, that got appealed to the Fifth Circuit. As we sit here today, about 35 hours ago, I think if I'm right, somewhere around that, the Fifth Circuit weighed in. As we sit here right now, Brian, what is the status of reproductive rights in the State of Texas? What is the next step forward for Planned Parenthood or the State of Texas in this fight?
Brian Steward: I'm going to answer your question and back up a little bit. As of 2:30 this afternoon, it's Thursday, April 9th, 2020, Judge Yeakel, who's in the Austin Western District, requested a hearing with the various parties to this litigation. In that hearing, he requested information about the pending lawsuit, the pending litigation, and evidence. You did a great job of walking us through this procedure-
Justin Hill: Thank you.
Brian Steward: -and walking us through these last 30 plus days, but I want to go back through it because there are certain things that are going to be really important. There are certain things that have been clarified since the last time we met. Thank you for allowing me to come back again.
Justin Hill: It's always good to see you. We're actually just so- we're supporting local. We're drinking some local beer from a Boerne Texas Brewery. We're trying to support local as we also try to give people something to listen to that's not COVID-19. It's a heavy, heavy deal. Let's have a conversation that is not focused on that necessarily. I mean, there's hinges on that, but it's a real legal issue going on. So walk us back through and fill in the...
Brian Steward had to come back on the show due to the changing nature of the litigation and rulings coming out of the courts about Planned Parenthood's fight with the State of Texas.
Transcript:
[music]
Justin Hill: Hello and bienvenido, San Antonio. Welcome to The Alamo Hour, discussing the people, places, and passion that make our city. My name is Justin Hill, a local attorney, a proud San Antonion, and keeper of chickens and bees. On The Alamo Hour, you'll get to hear from the people that make San Antonio great and unique and the best-kept secret in Texas. We're glad that you're here.
Okay, welcome to The Alamo Hour. This is our first attempt at a bonus episode. We have Brian Steward with us. He's rejoined us today. He will be the guest on tomorrow, which will be today's episode of The Alamo Hour, discussing Planned Parenthood's lawsuit and ongoing issues in the fight with Texas over reproductive rights and what COVID-19 means for people who are trying to exercise what has been determined to be a constitutional right to access the reproductive freedom or rights.
When he was last on the show, we discussed the course of a legal fight between the State of Texas and Planned Parenthood that centered around, as you just heard, whether or not access to abortion, abortion procedures would be outlawed during Abbott's ruling that non-essential medical procedures are put on hold during the pendency of the emergency order related to COVID-19. After his order, the next day, the Attorney General said that it includes abortion and abortion procedures. The Texas Medical Board weighed in. A lawsuit was filed. Austin Federal Judge Lee Yeakel basically said, "We're going to put that ruling on hold and allow access to reproductive rights and abortion procedures to continue until I get some evidence from you all, and we'll have a hearing--" April 13th was that, right?
Brian Steward: April 13th.
Justin Hill: Then in the meantime, that got appealed to the Fifth Circuit. As we sit here today, about 35 hours ago, I think if I'm right, somewhere around that, the Fifth Circuit weighed in. As we sit here right now, Brian, what is the status of reproductive rights in the State of Texas? What is the next step forward for Planned Parenthood or the State of Texas in this fight?
Brian Steward: I'm going to answer your question and back up a little bit. As of 2:30 this afternoon, it's Thursday, April 9th, 2020, Judge Yeakel, who's in the Austin Western District, requested a hearing with the various parties to this litigation. In that hearing, he requested information about the pending lawsuit, the pending litigation, and evidence. You did a great job of walking us through this procedure-
Justin Hill: Thank you.
Brian Steward: -and walking us through these last 30 plus days, but I want to go back through it because there are certain things that are going to be really important. There are certain things that have been clarified since the last time we met. Thank you for allowing me to come back again.
Justin Hill: It's always good to see you. We're actually just so- we're supporting local. We're drinking some local beer from a Boerne Texas Brewery. We're trying to support local as we also try to give people something to listen to that's not COVID-19. It's a heavy, heavy deal. Let's have a conversation that is not focused on that necessarily. I mean, there's hinges on that, but it's a real legal issue going on. So walk us back through and fill in the...
32 min