Unable to stop Texas women from having abortions, another anti choice bill is signed into law
In likely the most aggressive attempt to stymie the flow of abortion medication by any state thus far, Republican Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday signed into law an extreme bill that seeks to stop its residents from receiving abortion pills by mail. House Bill 7 empowers private citizens to sue abortion medication manufacturers, distributors, and anyone else across the United States who mails, prescribes, or provides abortion-inducing pills to the state and reap a minimum of $100,000 in court.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin found that 84 percent of Aid Access’s more than 118,000 online prescriptions were sent to patients living in abortion-ban states. In Texas, nearly 3,000 residents per month continue to access abortion through telehealth, according to the Society of Family Planning, and overall, in banned states, more than 99 percent of abortions are provided by this online option.
While the bill does not target abortion patients, it does cast a wide net on who can file suit: HB 7 not only allows those connected to the pregnant person—such as a vengeful boyfriend or family member—to sue for sizable damages, but anyone unrelated to the embryo or fetus can bring suit and be awarded a portion of the payout with the remaining funds going toward a charitable organization. The measure also makes the process more difficult for defendants; for instance, if they prevail in court, they are not allowed to recover legal fees, as often is the case for those who succeed.
Sepper stresses HB 7 carries risk for nearly anyone assisting abortion patients: For example, if a friend traveled to California and brought back abortion pills to someone in Texas, they could be sued for “transporting” the medication. Moreover, the legislation even chillingly targets those who merely intend to order pills—a provision tantamount to a “thought crime” says Sepper. On the Capitol floor shortly before the bill’s passage, Houston Democrat Carol Alvarado said the “cruelest part” of this bill is that it “punishes intent.”
Texas Extremists Are Trying Everything to Block Abortion Medication https://share.google/QXVGmlYEqcIa8ImD3
Her Safe Harbor, an organization that uses shield laws to mail abortion pills to people and received one of Paxton’s cease-and-desist letters, has no plans to block Texans from its services, said Debra Lynch, a nurse practitioner who works with the group, in an interview before Abbott signed the law. In fact, as the Texas law neared passage in the state legislature, Her Safe Harbor started receiving so many requests for help from patients that it had to double its number of abortion providers, according to Lynch.
“Even if a law was passed that said they would come after us criminally and not civilly – that would not have any impact whatsoever on the services that we provide,” Lynch said. “It’s important that women know that.”
Abortion pill providers targeted by new Texas law refuse ‘anticipatory obedience’ | Abortion | The Guardian https://share.google/k7kJ5XN6J3Kl3DOU9
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