Texas Heartbeat Act

The Texas Heartbeat Act is an act of the Texas Legislature. It was introduced as Senate Bill 8 (SB 8) and House Bill 1515 (HB 1515) on March 11, 2021, and was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on May 19, 2021. The law took effect on September 1, 2021. It is the first time a state has successfully imposed a six-week abortion ban since Roe v. Wade, and the first abortion restriction to rely on enforcement by private individuals through civil lawsuits, rather than by the government through criminal or civil enforcement. The Act establishes a system in which members of the public can sue anyone who performs or facilitates an illegal abortion for a minimum of $10,000 in statutory damages.

A

 * I cannot believe that people who were born after ’73 are going back to the Middle Ages. Sometimes I think it is more of a taboo now than it was then.
 * Anonymous seventy-three-year-old gynecologist who has been performing abortions for five decades, A Texas Teen-Ager’s Abortion Odyssey, New Yorker, (June 13, 2022)


 * I never learned to shoot while I was in the Army. It’s not like I’m going to get a gun now.
 * Anonymous seventy-three-year-old gynecologist who has been performing abortions for five decades, A Texas Teen-Ager’s Abortion Odyssey, New Yorker, (June 13, 2022)

B

 * Today, Texas law SB8 went into effect. This extreme Texas law blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century.
 * Joe Biden, "Statement by President Joe Biden on Texas Law SB8", (September 1, 2021)


 * “It’s a very unique law and it’s a very clever law,” said Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. “Planned Parenthood can’t go to court and sue Attorney General [Ken] Paxton like they usually would because he has no role in enforcing the statute. They have to basically sit and wait to be sued.”
 * Josh Blackman as quoted by Shannon Najmabadi in “Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law one of nation’s strictest abortion measures, banning procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy”, Texas Tribune, (May 19, 2021)


 * I fully understood that there could be legal consequences — but I wanted to make sure that Texas didn’t get away with its bid to prevent this blatantly unconstitutional law from being tested," Braid said.
 * Alan Braid, "Texas doctor defies new state law and performs abortion past six weeks of pregnancy", (September 19, 2021)


 * Very, Very Wrong... I wrote a dissent — and that's the way it works... [the court's decision was procedural] and so we'll see what happens in that area when we get a substantive matter in front of us
 * Stephen Breyer Justice Breyer Says Supreme Court Upholding Texas Abortion Ban Was 'Very, Very Wrong', NPR (September 9, 2021)

C

 * The law amounts to a near-total ban on abortion procedures given that 85% to 90% of abortions occur after six weeks of pregnancy, and would likely force many clinics to close, the abortion-rights groups said. A majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal in the United States, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Some 52% said it should be legal in most or all cases, with just 36% saying it should be illegal in most or all cases. But it remains a deeply polarizing issue...The law, signed on May 19, is unusual in that it prevents government officials from enforcing the ban, instead giving private citizens that power by enabling them to sue anyone who provides or "aids or abets" an abortion after six weeks. Citizens who win such lawsuits would be entitled to at least $10,000. Abortion providers say the law could lead to hundreds of costly lawsuits that would be logistically difficult to defend.
 * Andrew Chung and Gabriella Borter, "Texas's near-total abortion ban takes effect after Supreme Court inaction", Reuters, (September 1, 2021)

D

 * Herrera was arrested and served with an indictment on the charge of Murder after Herrera did then and there intentionally and knowingly cause the death of an individual by self-induced abortion
 * Sheriff's Maj. Carlos Delgado Woman faces murder charge in Texas after 'self-induced abortion,' prompting outrage from reproductive rights advocates (April 9, 2022)


 * Texas law Senate Bill 8 (SB 8) has drawn significant criticism since going into effect last week, as the law bans abortions after a “fetal heartbeat” is detected—a term medical experts have criticized as misleading—and has an exception only for medical emergencies.
 * Asked Tuesday about the law forcing rape and incest victims to carry their pregnancies to term, Abbott claimed the law “doesn’t require that at all” because it “provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion.” Abbott’s comments Tuesday have sparked widespread opposition from abortion rights advocates. “Greg Abbott is lying” about rape victims still being able to get an abortion, former San Antonio mayor and presidential candidate Julian Castro tweeted Tuesday, while progressive group Ultraviolet said of Abbott’s comments, “Maybe if you don't understand basic biology you shouldn't legislate bodily autonomy away.”
 * Alison Durkee, "Gov. Abbott Claims Texas Will ‘Eliminate’ Rapists In Defending Abortion Ban", Forbes, (September 7, 2021)


 * In addition to Democrats and companies like Uber, Lyft and Bumble that have already mobilized against the law, it has sparked pushback from even some anti-abortion Republicans. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Sunday they believe the law’s lawsuit enforcement mechanism goes too far, and Kinzinger also took issue with the law not having rape and incest exceptions.
 * Alison Durkee, Gov. "Abbott Claims Texas Will ‘Eliminate’ Rapists In Defending Abortion Ban", Forbes, (September 7, 2021)


 * Several Republicans including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) criticized Texas’ near-total ban on abortion Sunday because of its provision empowering private citizens to sue those who aid and abet abortions—potentially signaling the legal tactic could face resistance from within the GOP as more states plan to copy Texas’ law. The Maryland governor specifically pointed to the law’s “problem of bounties,” as the Texas law—known as Senate Bill 8 (SB 8)—says government officials cannot enforce the law, but rather directs private citizens to file lawsuits against anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion and stipulates they can earn at least $10,000 in damages if they win. Kinzinger said on CNN that while he’s “pro-life,” what he “doesn’t like to see” is letting “everyone being able to tattle” and the fact that under SB 8, private citizens are “deputized to enforce this abortion law” against even potentially Uber drivers that transport a Texan to their abortion. The GOP lawmaker also opposes the fact the law does not include exceptions in the case of rape and incest, though SB 8 does allow abortions in the case of medical emergencies. Former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), who identifies as “pro-life,” said on Meet the Press she views the Texas law as “bad policy and it’s bad law,” agreeing with a Wall Street Journal op-ed that described the law as a “blunder” that “sets an awful precedent that conservatives should hate.”
 * Alison Durkee, "Texas Abortion Ban Goes Too Far For Even Some Republicans: ‘A Little Bit Extreme’", Forbes, (September 5, 2021)

G

 * While the Justice Department urgently explores all options to challenge Texas SB8 in order to protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons, including access to an abortion, we will continue to protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services pursuant to our criminal and civil enforcement of the FACE Act, 18 U.S.C. § 248. The FACE Act prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services. It also prohibits intentional property damage of a facility providing reproductive health services. The department has consistently obtained criminal and civil remedies for violations of the FACE Act since it was signed into law in 1994, and it will continue to do so now. The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack. We have reached out to U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and FBI field offices in Texas and across the country to discuss our enforcement authorities. We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, physical obstruction or property damage in violation of the FACE Act. If you have an incident, concern, or questions, please contact the FBI
 * Merrick Garland, "Statement from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Regarding Texas SB8", (September 6, 2021)


 * ... act is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent ... regardless of whether exceptions are made for particular circumstances, a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.
 * Merrick Garland in ""Justice Department sues Texas over restrictive abortion law", (September 9, 2021)


 * We turn to a major setback for reproductive rights. As of midnight last night, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a Texas law to go into effect that bans abortion after six weeks. No other six-week ban has ever gone into effect in the United States. At six weeks, many people don’t even know they’re pregnant... The new Texas law is unique. It empowers private citizens — not government officials — to file a civil lawsuit against patients, medical workers, or even a patient’s family or friends who, quote, “aid and abet” an abortion — or a taxi driver who drives a woman to a clinic. If a case is successful, the person who filed it is awarded at least $10,000, plus attorneys’ fees.
 * Amy Goodman in “Blanket Unconstitutional” Texas Abortion Ban Takes Effect in Major Setback for Reproductive Rights, Democracy Now!, (September 1, 2021)


 * This is an attack on women’s access to healthcare and on their right to choose. [Lyft is creating a] driver legal defense fund to cover 100 percent of legal fees if drivers on its platform get sued under the new law.  [Lyft is also donating $1 million to Planned Parenthood to] ensure that transportation is never a barrier to healthcare access.
 * Logan Green in "Lyft and Uber to cover legal fees of drivers sued under Texas anti-abortion law", (September 3, 2021)

H

 * Today, a new law takes effect in Texas that directly violates the precedent established in the landmark case of Roe v. Wade. This all-out assault on reproductive health effectively bans abortion for the nearly 7 million Texans of reproductive age."
 * Kamala Harris, "Statement by Vice President Harris on Texas Law SB8", September 1, 2021,


 * Let's harshly punish the rapist, but we don't, we don't punish the unborn child.
 * Bryan Hughes who introduced this law in "Gov. Abbott Claims Texas Will ‘Eliminate’ Rapists In Defending Abortion Ban", (September 7, 2021)

L

 * Abbott is claiming that because the law allows for abortion up to six weeks, it’s not forcing anyone to do anything. As doctors, people who’ve been pregnant before, and people who’ve bothered to read a book on the subject before crafting legislation on it have noted, by the time a person misses her first period, she’s already roughly four weeks pregnant. That means that under Texas law, someone would have no more than two weeks, not six, to determine she’s pregnant and decide whether or not to get an abortion. Even in the case of people who are actively trying to get pregnant, that window can narrow even further for numerous reasons including if they have irregular cycles. Usually, then, one would make an appointment with a doctor to confirm the pregnancy, and as Abbott may or may not know, health care in American is not the greatest, so she may not be able to be seen for several weeks. And that hugely generous two weeks is not only a joke for many people actively trying to have a child, but for the majority of people who are not.
 * Bess Levins, "Greg Abbott Claims Texas's No-Exception Abortion Law is Fine Because He's Going to Eliminate Rape", Vanity Fair (September 7, 2021)

M

 * The way it’s written, a Texan who objects to SB 8 may have no one they can sue to stop it from taking effect. For one, abortion rights plaintiffs can’t sue their state directly. The ordinary rule is that when someone sues a state in order to block a state law, they cannot sue the state directly. States benefit from a doctrine known as “sovereign immunity,” which typically prevents lawsuits against the state itself. But they also can’t really follow the same path that most citizens who want to stop laws do. That path relies on Ex parte Young (1908), a decision in which the Supreme Court established that someone raising a constitutional challenge to a state law may sue the state officer charged with enforcing that law — and obtain a court order preventing that officer from enforcing it. So, for example, if Texas passed a law requiring the state medical board to strip all abortion providers of their medical licenses, a plaintiff could sue the medical board. If a state passed a law requiring state police to blockade abortion clinics, a plaintiff might sue the chief of the state’s police force. Part of what makes SB 8 such a bizarre law is that it does not permit any state official to enforce it. Rather, the statute provides that it “shall be enforced exclusively through . . . private civil actions.” Under the law, “any person, other than an officer or employee of a state or local governmental entity in this state,” may bring a private lawsuit against anyone who performs an abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, or against anyone who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion.” Plaintiffs who prevail in such suits shall receive at least $10,000 from the defendant. SB 8, in other words, attempts to make an end run around Young by preventing state officials from directly enforcing the law. Again, Young established that a plaintiff may sue a state official charged with enforcing a state law in order to block enforcement of that law. But if no state official is charged with enforcing the law, there’s no one to sue in order to block the law. Checkmate, libs. It’s worth noting that this tactic cannot prevent anyone from ever challenging SB 8. Now that the law has taken effect, abortion providers (plus anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion, a vague term that is not defined in the statute) will undoubtedly be bombarded with lawsuits seeking the $10,000 bounty authorized by the new state law. These defendants will then be able to argue in court that they should not be required to pay this bounty because it is unconstitutional. But they will do so under the threat of having to pay such a bounty to anyone who brings a lawsuit against them. Even if abortion providers prevail in all of these suits, moreover, they will still have to pay for lawyers to defend themselves in court. And the suits seeking a bounty under SB 8 will likely be numerous and endless, because literally “any person” who is not a Texas state officer can file such a suit. If SB 8 remains in effect, any abortion providers who do remain operational are likely to be crushed by a wave of lawsuits that they cannot afford to litigate.
 * Ian Millhiser, “Texas’s radical anti-abortion law, explained”, Vox, (Sep 2, 2021)


 * If you are confused by this morass of procedural aggression, countermeasures to procedural aggression, dueling appeals, and court orders forbidding other court orders, you should be. This is not how the judiciary is supposed to function. Litigants who face an imminent risk of harm unless a state law is blocked should be given an opportunity to challenge that law before they violate it and risk legal consequences. Appeals courts should wait for lower courts to decide a case before they reach a different conclusion than the lower court might reach. Doctors who provide medical care that, at least for the time being, is still protected by decisions like Roe and Casey should not risk an unending wave of harassing lawsuits brought by people seeking to collect a bounty. And yet, the justices effectively rewrote the nation’s abortion jurisprudence without receiving full briefing, hearing oral argument, or taking more than a couple of days to even consider the case. Just as significantly, blessed a tactic that could be used to undermine virtually any constitutional right. Imagine, for example, that New York passed an SB 8-style law allowing private individuals to bring lawsuits seeking a $10,000 bounty against anyone who owns a gun. Or, for that matter, imagine if Texas passed a law permitting similar suits against anyone who criticizes the governor of Texas.
 * Ian Millhiser, “Texas’s radical anti-abortion law, explained”, Vox, (Sep 2, 2021)

N

 * It’s the most extreme that’s ever gone into effect. And as you pointed out, this morning, unfortunately, in Texas, the clinics can’t be open to provide abortions any later than six weeks. And 85% of people seeking abortions in Texas do so after six weeks, since many people don’t even know they’re pregnant yet at six weeks. So, this is the most extreme law to go into effect. We have gone to the Supreme Court. We filed papers right up to 8:00 last night. We are waiting for the court to act. And it really should step in. I mean, what Texas has done his just blanket unconstitutional. It is not for the state of Texas to overturn Roe v. Wade... Roe v. Wade is the law of the land. It has been for 50 years.There is no question that a ban on abortion at six weeks violates the Constitution
 * Nancy Northup in "“Blanket Unconstitutional” Texas Abortion Ban Takes Effect in Major Setback for Reproductive Rights", Democracy Now!, (September 1, 2021)


 * For your listeners in Texas, if you are in this position, do call your local clinics... they are open, because there is this small period in which you can get an abortion, and they do want to help their patients. So, of course, before you do anything, call your local clinic. And secondly, you can leave the state. They can’t criminalize you leaving the state to have an abortion. But, of course, for so many people, they don’t have the means to do that. Right? You have to not only have the financial means to leave the state. You have to be able to take time off from work. You have to potentially have child care. Most women in Texas who have abortions do have children. And there’s a whole set of circumstances that are going to make that very difficult.
 * Nancy Northup in "“Blanket Unconstitutional” Texas Abortion Ban Takes Effect in Major Setback for Reproductive Rights", Democracy Now!, (September 1, 2021)

O

 * Six weeks pregnant means two weeks late for your period... And two weeks late on your period for any person -- any person with a menstrual cycle -- can happen if you're stressed, if your diet changes or for really no reason at all. So you don't have six weeks.
 * Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, quoted in Tara Subramaniam, Fact Check: Texas abortion law doesn't give full 6 weeks to get an abortion, CNN, (September 9, 2021)


 * The majority of people who are raped, and who are sexually assaulted, are assaulted by someone they know. These aren’t just predators who are walking around the streets at night. They are people's uncles, they are teachers, they are family friends, and when something like that happens, it takes a very long time, first of all, for any victim to come forward. And second of all, when a victim comes forward, they don't necessarily want to bring their case into the carceral system. They don't want to re-traumatize themselves by going to court. They don't necessarily all want to report a family friend to a police precinct, let alone in the immediate aftermath of the trauma of a sexual assault.
 * Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, “'Disgusting': Ocasio-Cortez reacts to Abbott's comments on rape victims”, "Anderson Cooper 360", CNN, (September 7, 2021)

S

 * But I just want to him to know—I respect the man. Any man who will stand on his hind legs, knowing good and well that the whole purpose of the thing is to bankrupt any doctor who tries it, and does what he thinks is the right thing to do, I have a high degree of respect for him
 * Oscar Stilley, referring to Dr. Braid 'Cranky' Disbarred Lawyer Sues Texas Doc Who Broke Abortion Ban (September 20, 2021)


 * Abbott's response is misleading, at best. The law's stipulation banning abortions after six weeks does not necessarily mean six weeks from the incident, in the case of rape or incest victims. Doctors date pregnancies from the first day of the individual's last menstrual cycle not from ovulation or "conception." As a result, under the new Texas law, those seeking abortions have less than six weeks to do so. Abbott attempted to caveat his comments Tuesday by highlighting that "rape is a crime," though the bill has no exception for it. Under SB8, the only possible exemption is for "medical emergency." Otherwise, abortion is prohibited when a fetal heartbeat is detected, though the flickering identified as a fetal heartbeat on an ultrasound at that time is really just electrical activity and the sound is made by the ultrasound machine itself. Even at six weeks, doctors say an ultrasound is not detecting a functional heart. And it's worth noting that the fetal heartbeat used as the abortion cutoff in this bill often occurs before people know they are pregnant. Jennifer Kerns, associate professor at University of California San Francisco and an OB-GYN, told CNN, "Saying that someone has six weeks to access abortion is completely misleading. When we say six weeks pregnant what that actually means is six weeks from the last menstrual period... So it doesn't actually mean the person has been pregnant for six weeks.
 * Tara Subramaniam, "Fact Check: Texas abortion law doesn't give full 6 weeks to get an abortion", CNN, (September 9, 2021)

T

 * On the ground, SB 8 is wreaking havoc. Although the law has prohibited access to most abortions in the state, Texans continue to need and seek abortion care. Those with the resources to do so have been forced to flee the state. Individuals with the means to take time off work, find childcare, and pay for transportation have made long journeys to clinics in other states in order to access abortion. Providers thousands of miles away now report seeing Texas patients, and neighboring states — such as Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma — are overwhelmed with Texas patients. The influx of patients has caused weeks-long wait times in appointments for both traveling Texans and local patients alike. Even for those who are able to access care, SB 8’s delays from travel and wait times are pushing them later into pregnancy. Although abortion is very safe, and much safer than childbirth, each week of unnecessary delay increases the risks of the procedure. For pregnant Texans beyond six weeks’ gestation who cannot overcome the difficult and costly barriers to leaving the state, SB 8 forecloses access to legal abortion and forces them to continue their pregnancies. The devastating impacts of forced pregnancy will be felt most by already marginalized communities, including people of color and low-income families. For example, undocumented immigrants in South Texas may fear interstate travel due to internal immigration checkpoints, and young people may be unable to take time away from school to get medical care far from home. And it is Black women who will suffer the brunt of the sometimes-deadly effects of forced pregnancy: Texas has a severe maternal mortality crisis, and Black women are three times more likely than white women to die during pregnancy or as a result of childbirth. Abortion bans hurt pregnant people and their families.
 * Chelsea Tejada, “Texas’ Bounty Hunter Abortion Ban is a Dire Warning of What Lays Ahead for Our Reproductive Rights”, ACLU, (March 17, 2022)


 * No matter what the Supreme Court does with Roe, the court already let SB 8 take effect, which means that for Texans the right to abortion currently exists largely in name only. The inability to access abortion beyond the earliest weeks of pregnancy has been and will continue to be devastating for pregnant people in Texas and their families. Sadly, that is precisely the intent of SB 8’s architects and supporters, and whether through copycat bills, 15-week bans, or total abortion bans, courts and legislatures appear prepared to release this devastation on countless more people. But we won’t give up the fight — we will do everything we can to protect the right to abortion, rebuild the right if the Supreme Court dismantles it, and ensure that people can get the care they need.
 * Chelsea Tejada, “Texas’ Bounty Hunter Abortion Ban is a Dire Warning of What Lays Ahead for Our Reproductive Rights”, ACLU, (March 17, 2022)


 * Drucilla Tigner, policy and advocacy strategist of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said the “governor’s swipe of a pen can’t change the Constitution.” While the law amounts to the most extreme abortion ban in the country, “abortion is both legal in Texas and supported by the majority of Texans,” Tigner said.
 * Drucilla Tigner, as quoted by Shannon Najmabadi in “Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law one of nation’s strictest abortion measures, banning procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy”, Texas Tribune, (May 19, 2021)


 * Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is again under fire for his state's restrictive new abortion law, after falsely claiming it does not force victims of rape or incest to give birth even though it prohibits abortions after about six weeks — which is before many people even know they're pregnant... Abbott was asked about forcing a rape or incest victim to carry their pregnancy to term. He misleadingly replied that the law does not require that. "...it provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion, and so, for one, it doesn't provide that," Abbott said... In fact, the countdown for those six weeks starts from the first day of a person's last period (not the "expected" period that was missed), leaving many with only about one or two weeks to end the pregnancy, if that, under the new law.
 * Rachel Treisman, Fact Check: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Misleading Remarks On The State's Abortion Law", NPR, (September 8, 2021)


 * Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., slammed Abbott in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday, saying he lacks basic knowledge of biology. "I'm sorry we have to break down Biology 101 on national television, but in case no one has informed him before in his life, six weeks pregnant means two weeks late for your period," Ocasio-Cortez said. "And two weeks late on your period ... can happen if you're stressed, if your diet changes or for really no reason at all. So you don't have six weeks."
 * Rachel Treisman, Fact Check: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Misleading Remarks On The State's Abortion Law", NPR, (September 8, 2021)


 * Ocasio-Cortez also took issue with Abbott's comments on rape, noting that the majority of people who are raped or sexually assaulted are assaulted by someone whom they know. The anti-sexual violence nonprofit RAINN says 8 out of 10 rapes are committed by someone known to the victim.  "These aren't just predators that are walking around the streets at night. They are people's uncles, they are teachers, they are family friends, and when something like that happens, it takes a very long time, first of all, for any victim to come forward," Ocasio-Cortez added. "And second of all,
 * Rachel Treisman, Fact Check: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Misleading Remarks On The State's Abortion Law", NPR, (September 8, 2021)


 * The whole case [Larkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc. (1982)] arose because of this arbitrary power that was given to a private entity... the Supreme Court said you cannot give governmental power over peoples` lives or liberty to private bodies, that have no public accountability.
 * Lawrence Tribe in an interview with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC see: transcript and interview

U

 * If Texas’s scheme is permissible, no constitutional right is safe from state-sanctioned sabotage of this kind.
 * Justice Department (addressing the appeals court as they asked it to suspend the state’s new law) ""Greg Abbott Opposes the Government “Bullying” Businesses, Except When He Does It", (October 11, 2021)


 * If a claimant in an S.B.8 case prevails, they are entitled to ... at least $10,000 per abortion, with no apparent maximum amount.
 * U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, (July 13, 2021)

W

 * The vast majority of Americans don’t want government intruding on a woman’s fundamental constitutional right to her own reproductive health care choices.  That’s why the dark-money forces behind S.B.8 engineered an anti-abortion majority on the Supreme Court – to do things the American people won’t abide from elected branches of government.
 * Sheldon Whitehouse '''SENATORS UNVEIL NEW CAPTURED COURTS REPORT ON TEXAS ASSAULT ON REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS (September 29, 2021)

“In some states, doctors weigh ‘ruinous’ litigation against proper care for women who have miscarriages" (July 20, 2022)
Elizabeth Cohen, Danielle Herman and John Bonifield, “In some states, doctors weigh ‘ruinous’ litigation against proper care for women who have miscarriages “, CNN, (July 20, 2022)
 * Stell had her miscarriage in Texas in September, just a few weeks after a strict anti-abortion law went into effect. Since then, in the wake of last month’s US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, more than a dozen other states have sought to enforce abortion bans or very restrictive policies, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy research group. Those laws will have “an enormous chilling effect” on doctors performing miscarriage surgeries even when doctors “are confident that what they’re doing is within the letter of the law,” said Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law and a CNN contributor.
 * Texas Right to Life has heard stories like this one and says it’s all a big “misunderstanding.” The group says doctors have been misinformed, and that while the Texas anti-abortion law, known as SB 8, doesn’t define the word “abortion,” another Texas statute says “an act is not an abortion if the act is done with the intent to remove a dead, unborn child whose death was caused by” a miscarriage. Doctors say they do understand the law - but that it’s not enough to protect them.
 * “The Texas law pits citizens against citizens,” said Vladeck, the University of Texas legal scholar. “Even worse, I think what it does is, it encourages citizens to spy on each other.” If the citizen is wrong – if the court finds, for example, that the doctor performed a surgery for a miscarriage and not an abortion – the doctor still has to pay their own legal fees, as Texas law specifically forbids doctors from recouping fees from plaintiffs.  “Even for those providers who are confident that what they’re doing is within the letter of the law, they face the specter of potentially ruinous litigation. They can’t stop it. They can’t avoid it. They can’t pre-empt it,” Vladeck said.
 * All it would take to cause the doctor ruin is a citizen who is confused about the difference between an abortion and a miscarriage, or someone who is out for money or someone who has a vendetta against the doctor or the patient. “Physicians may be apprehensive about a situation where a woman has a miscarriage and let’s say she has an angry partner and they try to charge the physicians with aiding an abortion,” said Dr. Leah Tatum, a spokeswoman for the Texas chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

“Under strict abortion law, Texas had nearly 10,000 more births than expected in last nine months of 2022, research suggests” (July 6, 2023)
Deidre McPhillips, “Under strict abortion law, Texas had nearly 10,000 more births than expected in last nine months of 2022, research suggests”, CNN, (July 6, 2023)
 * Using data from other states and from Texas in years prior to the new law, they established a version of what birth trends in Texas would have probably looked like without the law and compared that with the actual number of births reported. They found that from April to December 2022, the first months that would have reflected the effects of the policy change, there were about 297,000 total births: about 3% more than the 287,000 births that would have been expected without the law. “Texas is really unique in that it is one of the states that had one of the higher abortion rates – and, because of the population size, a relatively large number of abortions,” said Suzanne Bell, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of the research. “At first blush, seeing the number was higher than I might have anticipated or hoped it might be.” But the 3% increase is relatively in line with what other research predicted might happen, she said.  “There were still a lot of people who were going further afield for abortion care or who were self-managing their abortion,” said Bell, who studies patterns of contraceptive use and abortion. “But our results suggest that not everyone was able to overcome those barriers, and many were forced an unwanted or unsafe pregnancy to term.”
 * Experts say that it’s tough to use these findings to project what the broader effects of the Dobbs decision might be. Earlier research found that the number of Texas residents who traveled out of state for an abortion spiked after the state’s Senate bill took effect, but that may not be an option for as many people under Dobbs, as many neighboring states – more than a dozen states nationwide – have also enacted abortion bans. “Now, those people are traveling much more, and those trips are getting longer, and there’s definitely a possibility that births in Texas or another state with restrictions could be larger in a post-Dobbs time,” Bell said. “During this period, there’s also growing knowledge of self-managed abortion using medication and an outpouring of support to access resources. Whether that is sustainable – and how much it will offset the restrictions – is yet to be determined.”
 * Poor policies around paid family leave and options for child care create challenges for many in the United States, and that hasn’t changed post-Dobbs, said Beth Jarosz, a demographer and program director with the nonprofit Population Reference Bureau who focuses on child well-being. “With the end of stimulus payments and some pandemic-era social network programs, birth rates may decline because people don’t feel like they have the resources to properly care for kids,” said Jarosz, who was not involved with the new Johns Hopkins research. “Will birth rates fall faster because of that or rise faster because of more restrictive abortion access? The implications are anyone’s guess.”
 * Much research suggests that the impacts of restricted access to abortion care will be felt unequally, with the ability to seek abortion care intersecting with poverty, racism and other sociodemographic factors. Bell says that she and her fellow researchers continue to explore those demographic differences, but she stresses the importance of focusing on the individual experience, too. “People who are denied a needed abortion experience a range of negative impacts on their physical and mental health,” she said. “It’s hard to imagine the short- and long-term implications of a personal trajectory that may have been rerouted for the 9,799 people who were denied an abortion under SB8.”