Bad News--Texas anti-abortion “Heartbeat” law is now in effect - Texas now had the most extreme anti-abortion law in the country
On May 19, 2021, Governor Abbott signed SB 8, the “Heartbeat” bill into law. This law, which became effective on September 1, 2021, prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. This law prohibits abortions as early as six weeks — before most women even know they are pregnant. The practical effect of the law is to ban most abortions in Texas.
This law has been challenged by abortion providers in federal court, and a hearing had been scheduled, but the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals prevented the district judge from entering a temporary restraining order. An emergency appeal to the United States Supreme Court was denied in 5-4 ruling on September 1, 2021. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/21a24_8759.pdf
The law is unusual in that it is not enforced by the State government but instead by a civil action brought by almost any private citizen against an abortion provider and others who aid in helping a women obtain an abortion. Any person could bring the civil case, except for a person who impregnated the women by rape, incest, or another sexual assault. As Justice Breyer pointed out in his dissent to the denial of injunctive relief, under Roe v. Wade, women have a federal constitutional right to an abortion and the State cannot delegate veto power over that right to a private citizen to prevent the exercise of that right. Justice Kagan called the Texas law patently unconstitutional and criticized the Court for rewarding Texas’ scheme to insulate the law from judicial review by deputizing private parties to carry out its unconstitutional provisions. Justice Sotomayor called the ruling stunning and stated the Court should not ignore its constitutional obligations to protect the rights of women and the sanctity of its precedents and the rule of law.
Currently pending before the Supreme Court is a Mississippi case involving a 15 week abortion ban. That case will be decided in the upcoming term of the Court which begins in October. Anti-abortion activists hope to use that case as a vehicle to overturn Roe v. Wade. If Roe is overturned, women’s abortion rights will depend on state laws. This last term, Texas enacted a trigger law, so that if Roe is overturned, abortion will be illegal in the State of Texas.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, the demographics of women who have abortions is as follows:
49% are women who live below the poverty level
60% are women in their 20s
59% are women who already have children
Women with resources will obtain abortions out of state and those without funds will be subject to an enforced pregnancy.