It's Texas' 'Most Sweeping Abortion Bill' in Years

There's been some uncertainty about how Republican states with abortion bans will try to project their power outside of state lines, reports AFP. But for Texas, the path is becoming clear. Amid the state's court challenge of New York's shield law, Texas Republicans have launched what experts say is a new, "multipronged attack" on abortion providers. Senate Bill 2880, introduced Friday by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, would create a civil liability for "the wrongful death of an unborn child" as a result of taking abortion pills and empower the "biological father of the unborn child" to file civil lawsuits to target distributors, reports the nonprofit 19th News, which describes it as "the most sweeping abortion bill introduced in the state since the fall of Roe v. Wade." But the bill wouldn't just go after distributors of abortion pills.

It would also target websites that share information about the pills, tech companies that process payments for the medications, and nonprofit funds that help women travel out of state for care. The bill would make it a felony to help someone cover the costs of out-of-state abortion care, per 19th News. It adds the law would "appl(y) extraterritorially to the maximum extent permitted by the Texas Constitution or federal law," per the Austin American-Statesman. The bill is clearly aimed at shield laws in liberal-leaning states, which protect health professionals who provide virtual abortion care to citizens living under abortion bans and have helped US abortions reach a peak. The largest share of patients receiving abortion medication through shield laws are in Texas.

John Seago, head of Texas Right to Life, a leading pro-life group that supports the bill, says it's "a response to the new tactics we've seen to promote illegal activity," per 19th News. Almost certain to pass into law and to face court challenge, the bill could make it harder to find information about abortion online from anywhere in the US, as "there's no internet in Texas versus elsewhere," abortion law expert Mary Ziegler tells the outlet. A separate bill introduced Friday, Senate Bill 31, would remove the requirement that a pregnant patient must have a "life-threatening condition" to legally receive an abortion in Texas. Instead, the patient could access abortion when at risk of a "substantial loss of a major bodily function," per the American-Statesman. (More abortion stories.)