Under Trump’s second administration, the fragile preservation of abortion access in the United States is slowly being eroded. To nobody’s surprise, Texas lawmakers are looking to lead the charge. On Tuesday, the Texas Senate passed a law targeting abortion pills in efforts to dramatically expand the state’s near-total abortion ban.
Dubbed the Women and Child Protection Act, SB 2880 would allow lawsuits against anyone manufacturing, mailing, or delivering abortion pills to someone in Texas for up to $100,000. These lawsuits can center around “injury sustained by an unborn child” or the “wrongful death of an unborn child” (which the bill specifies can be filed by either parent). The statute of limitations for wrongful death cases would also be extended to six years instead of just two.
Per the Texas Tribune, the bill’s current language means it cannot be challenged in state court before it goes into effect. In fact, a state court judge could be sued for $100,000 if they say that it’s unconstitutional. Furthermore, any lawyers who try to challenge the bill would be responsible for both sides’ legal fees.
This use of civil lawsuits was central to Texas’s original anti-abortion legislation in 2021, as it allowed the state to expand its reach by effectively handing over the policing and enforcement of laws to private citizens. Scarily enough, though, the Senate actually passed a scaled-down version of the law. When it was originally introduced in March, it included felony charges for paying for or reimbursing abortion-related costs or destroying evidence. It also criminalized things like helping with travel or lodging.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, medication abortions account for the majority of abortions in the United States. An average of 2,800 Texans receive abortion-inducing medication by mail from shield states whose laws protect abortion providers, helpers, and patient medical records from any civil or criminal proceedings. Currently, eighteen states (and D.C.) have shield laws, including California, Minnesota, and New York. Recently, Texas tried to circumvent New York’s law by suing a doctor for mailing abortion pills. But last month, a county clerk refused to file the judge’s fine of over $100,000.
As its name implies, SB 2880 is framed as a way to protect women. Per the Texas Tribune, bill author Sen. Bryan Hughes said that pills “are being mailed…directly to women, often without instructions, certainly without doctors as before, and without any follow-up care after…This is illegal in Texas, but it is taking place, and we’ve thus far not been able to protect women.”
In addition to trying to eliminate medications, SB 2880 would criminalize providing information on how to obtain them. This includes anyone who makes a website about abortion access or exchanges emails. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation summarized in a recent statement, “The goal is to wipe this information from the internet altogether…The bill is carefully designed to scare people into silence.”
Texas is not stopping at SB 2880. The Senate is considering testing sewage for abortion pills, and also passed SB 31, which clarifies when doctors can perform medically necessary abortions. The bill comes after ProPublica reported in February that sepsis rates soared following the abortion ban. Per the outlet, two women died from sepsis after doctors refused to evacuate their incomplete miscarriages because that would be an abortion. Although once again framed as protecting women, the Texas Equal Access Fund described it as a “political distraction” that “only exists to provide anti-abortion politicians cover for their decision to ban abortion, while keeping care inaccessible.”
Both SB 2880 and SB 31 are now heading to the House.
