Bill to stop flow of abortion pills into Texas clears House panel
A comprehensive crackdown on abortion pills passed out of a Texas House committee Friday, after conservatives criticized leadership for allowing it to languish.
Since Texas banned nearly all abortions in 2022, people have found ways to obtain abortion-inducing drugs from a wide range of sources: out-of-state doctors, overseas pharmacies and whisper networks around the state, among other avenues. In response to red state abortion bans, blue states have passed shield laws to protect their providers from criminal or civil penalties for mailing pills.
Anti-abortion groups and conservative lawmakers in Texas, frustrated by this easily exploited loophole in the law, have tried to stop this proliferation of pills with lawsuits and legislation. Senate Bill 2880 represents the most wide-ranging effort yet, giving the state a slew of new and legally unprecedented tools.
If the bill becomes law, anyone who manufactures, distributes, mails, prescribes or provides abortion-inducing drugs can be sued for up to $100,000, even if the pills aren't proven to be the cause of death for the fetus. It expands the wrongful death statute to encourage men whose partners willingly terminate their pregnancies to sue whoever provided the pills for up to six years after the event. It also empowers the Attorney General to bring lawsuits on behalf of 'unborn children of residents of this state.'
The bill also contains a controversial provision that says it cannot be challenged in state court before it is enforced, and a state judge who holds the law to be unconstitutional can be personally sued for $100,000.
The bill passed the Senate 19-11 and was referred to the House State Affairs committee, where it lay dormant for three weeks. With the deadline for House committees to pass Senate bills approaching on Saturday, 43 Republican members of the House signed onto a letter, urging Chairman Ken King, a Republican from Canadian, to take up the bill.
'Texas is in crisis,' the letter said, noting that the state's strict abortion laws are 'subverted daily by bad actors who flood our state with dangerous and deadly abortion pills.'
To really drive the message home, a group of House members held a press briefing Friday to demand that SB 2880, among other conservative bills, move before the deadline.
'We are in a war right now, and you need to understand we are running out of time,' Rep. Mitch Little, a Lewisville Republican, said. He said that a recent bill to clarify Texas' abortion laws was a 'noble thing to do, but there's a balance to this equation that has to be completed.'
Just two hours later, the House State Affairs committee gathered for a last-minute meeting, where they voted 8-5 to move the bill. It now faces another tight turnaround to preliminarily pass the House before the Tuesday deadline.
First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Morning Bid: Tariff plot twists lose their bite
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Wayne Cole. Is this the dog that didn't bark? That would be the question from Sherlock Holmes fans given the utter lack of market reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's threatened doubling of steel and aluminium tariffs to 50%. That policy shift by tweet came late Friday after markets shut, so there was some anticipation of an impact today, maybe a drop in the Canadian dollar given the scale of their steel exports to the U.S. Yet the loonie is actually firmer against a broadly softer greenback, while European share futures are off a shade and Wall St futures only modestly lower. This could be the TACO meme in action as investors assume 'Trump always chickens out', though he's leaving it late with the new higher tariff supposed to go into effect on Wednesday. Then again, last minute cliffhangers work well on reality TV. European Union negotiators weren't pleased with this latest plot twist and threatened retaliation in return, while also letting it be known that the court case decision against the April 2 tariffs gave them added "leverage". Neither does Trump's latest rhetorical attack on China seem to be working, with Beijing sticking to its guns. If Trump is counting on a call from China's President Xi Jinping to sort things out, he might be waiting by the phone for a while. It was also somewhat ironic hearing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complaining that China was holding back vital products from the United States, given it was the U.S. that started a trade war with the specific aim of rebuffing Chinese imports. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller speaking in South Korea said tariffs meant there were downside risks to activity and unemployment, and upside risks to inflation. Yet he was still optimistic about the chance of "good news" interest rate cuts later this year, cementing his place as one of the more dovish Fed officials. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will speak later Monday, though limited to opening remarks to an international finance conference. Key developments that could influence markets on Monday: * UK house prices, European PMIs, U.S. ISM factory survey * Fed Chair Powell gives opening remarks at the FederalReserve Board's International Finance Division 75th AnniversaryConference, while Chicago Fed Goolsbee and Dallas Fed Loganappear in Q&A's (By Wayne Cole; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump Posts Thinly-Veiled Message to Judges on Tariffs
With courts threatening to unravel his global trade war, Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Sunday to send a not-so-subtle signal to the judges standing in his way. The president suggested he expects an appeal to go his way following a week of legal whiplash over his signature economic policy. On Wednesday, a federal trade court struck down his sweeping 'Liberation Day' tariffs on global trade partners, ruling he had overstepped his constitutional authority. But just a day later, an appeals court put that decision on hold while it reviews the case. Trump catastrophized in his post that a court loss would spell economic disaster. 'If the Courts somehow rule against us on Tariffs, which is not expected, that would allow other Countries to hold our Nation hostage with their anti-American Tariffs that they would use against us,' he wrote. 'This would mean the Economic ruination of the United States of America!' The initial ruling came in response to a lawsuit from small businesses that said the tariffs put their operations at existential risk by driving up costs associated with importing goods. The U.S. Court of International Trade sided with the plaintiffs, with the three-judge panel concluding that the 1977 law Trump relied on to impose the tariffs did not give him 'unbounded authority' to do so. Trump and his mouthpieces have characteristically lashed out at the judiciary in response. His White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, on Thursday cast the panel as 'activist judges'—despite the fact that two of the three were appointed by Republican presidents, including one by Trump himself. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has also reaffirmed the administration's intent to push forward with the tariff policy—via other means if necessary—regardless of the legal setback. 'We're going to take that up to higher courts, the president's going to win like he always does. But rest assured, tariffs are not going away,' Lutnick said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. 'He has so many other authorities, that even in the weird and unusual circumstance where this was taken away, we just bring on another or another or another.' Trump has spent months framing his tariffs as a bargaining chip to force overseas trade partners to make new agreements. To date, the administration has finalized only one such agreement—with the United Kingdom—and a separate 90-day truce with China to roll back steep tariffs on both sides. A federal appeals court has set a June 5 deadline for plaintiffs in the trade court case to respond and June 9 for the administration.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Creatives reflect on why it's important for Canadians to 'sell our stories to the world'
Nominees and winners at the Canadian Screen Awards say the ceremony is an opportunity to reflect on Canadian content in tumultuous political times, and celebrate creativity north of the border. (June 1, 2025)
