TX – This week Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the Heartbeat Bill into law, being called one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.
Instead of allowing the state to prosecute a provider who performs an abortion after a detectable heartbeat, like the law recently signed in Oklahoma, this would allow people to sue them in civil court.
Texas Senate Bill 8 says anyone who isn’t a state or government employee can sue an abortion provider or anyone who helped in the process.
“What went into this was a real desire to save children. A firm belief that life begins at conception and that life is precious,”
Texas State Representative Reggie Smith co-authored Senate Bill 8, known as the Heartbeat Bill.
State statistics tally more than 50,000 abortions in 2020, that’s more than the City of Sherman’s population.
“We care about the lives of those children and we care about what those children are going to become when they grow up. Who are these people that are being killed by abortion,” Smith said.
The law allows anyone to sue providers who perform an abortion after there is a heartbeat, or anyone who helps a woman in the process.
That includes paying for an abortion or driving a woman to the clinic.
The only exception is a medical emergency.
Heartbeat detection can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy, which is before many women know they’re pregnant.
“It puts women at higher risk. It makes timely, essential healthcare further out of reach for them,” said Autumn Williams Keiser with Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas.
She said it creates huge obstacles for women wanting abortions leading to desperation, like driving out of state or trying other ways that aren’t guided medically.
“At the end of the day, an abortion ban does not stop abortions. It simply makes a safe, legal abortion harder to access,” Williams Keiser said.
The law does not provide exemptions for victims of rape or incest.
Smith says prosecutors should do everything to convict criminals of this kind, but says another life is at stake too.
“What the argument is and what I believe is that that child didn’t ask for that and that child has a right to experience life,” Smith said.
Williams Keiser says the law is concerning and upsetting.
“It’s some of the most extreme abortion restriction legislation that we have ever seen in the country,” she said.
Pending any potential legal challenges, the law is set to take effect on September First.
It would allow people who file suit to seek up to $10,000 per defendant.
Until then, abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected are still legal in Texas.
