Latest news with #WomanandChildProtectionAct
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Abortion opponents laud bill that would clamp down on pill providers and out-of-state abortions
A wide-ranging crackdown on abortion pills, out-of-state travel and other ways Texans are evading the state's near-total abortion ban drew zealous support from abortion opponents who said during a Senate committee meeting on Thursday that illegal trafficking of abortion pills harms women. Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, authored Senate Bill 2880, which legal experts say is the most comprehensive attempt yet to stop Texans from accessing abortion pills or out-of-state abortions. The bill would target online pill providers and tech companies that host abortion-related websites, and make it a felony, punishable by up to life in prison, to pay or reimburse the costs of an abortion, a direct hit on abortion funds, which help cover the costs of out-of-state abortions. It would also expand the ability of private citizens to bring wrongful death lawsuits against pill providers after an abortion and empower the attorney general's office to more easily prosecute abortion offenses. By going after the internet service providers, social media sites and search engines that power these websites, Texas could potentially undermine the entire network of pills and providers serving abortion-ban states. 'Senate Bill 2880 is a big toolbox of policies for Texas to fight back against these websites,' said John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life, during Thursday's hearing of the Senate State Affairs Committee. 'Texas will be leading other states on how we can fight this concerning trend.' A large body of research has shown abortion drug mifepristone, first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000, to be safe and effective. But anti-abortion groups have been actively pushing to get the medications restricted or even moved off the market through lawsuits and legislation. Anti-abortion groups told lawmakers during the hearing that pregnant people in Texas are receiving pills such as mifepristone and misoprostol in the mail without any information about how to take them, or guidelines on follow-up care. Providers shared stories about women hemorrhaging at home or struggling to dispose of the remains of an aborted fetus. 'I see women suffering daily from the effects of incomplete chemical abortions,' said Whitney Freeman, director of medical services at Prestonwood Pregnancy Center in the Dallas area. Freeman said sometimes women receive pills in the mail with no medical instructions, or with instructions in a foreign language such as Russian. Patients are told not to tell medical providers that they are in the process of a chemical abortion, which can then prevent them from receiving the care they need, Freeman said SB 2880, called the Woman and Child Protection Act, would allow private citizens to sue for up to $100,000 per violation of the law. This is an escalation of the legal framework that allowed Texas to ban nearly all abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy in 2021. Critics of the bill told lawmakers on Thursday that the legislation demonstrates government overreach and would infringe upon constitutional free speech. Austin Kaplan, an Austin attorney who sued over the 2021 law, told The Texas Tribune that it was inevitable that lawmakers would keep pushing to expand the use of this private enforcement mechanism. He said this bill, as written, would likely be challenged in court, although he noted that hasn't stopped Texas lawmakers before. 'Looking at this, it looks just completely impossible,' he said. 'But what's the penalty for the Legislature? The legislator gets reelected. They don't pay out of pocket for this litigation.' The committee also signaled its support of a priority bill for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, which would prohibit cities and counties from using taxpayer dollars to pay for out-of-state abortions and travel. Senate Bill 33 targets Austin and San Antonio, which have designated $400,000 and $500,000, respectively, to assist residents with costs associated with navigating abortion bans. State law already prevents taxpayer funds from being used to pay for abortions, but some cities have 'worked to exploit a loophole,' said bill author Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, by using taxpayer funds to pay for travel accommodations, child care and other expenses women incur when they seek out-of-state abortions. 'We have so many things we need to be spending our taxpayer dollars on,' said San Antonio City Council Member Marc Whyte, who testified in favor of the bill. 'Not once have I heard the residents of San Antonio saying they want their tax dollars spent on sending women to other states to receive abortions.' Under SB 33, the attorney general or any Texas resident could bring a civil legal action against cities that misuse funds by paying to facilitate abortions. We can't wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more. Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
How Texas Republicans plan to keep cracking down on abortion
Abortion has been outlawed in Texas for almost three years now, but still, Texans are finding ways to terminate their pregnancies. There's been a steady flow of pills being mailed into the state, and abortion seekers traveling out of the state, resulting in a net positive number of abortions nationally since the procedure was banned. This flouting of the laws is a real bugaboo of anti-abortion groups and Republican elected officials. They've tried to get the pills removed from the market, threatened the abortion funds and individuals who help people travel out of state, sued people who helped their friends get pills and, most recently, sued a New York doctor accused of providing pills to Texans. Now, it's the state Legislature's turn to take a crack at it. While most of the attention so far has been on a pair of bills that aim to clarify the existing laws as they apply to complicated pregnancies, lawmakers are also hoping to give Texas sharper tools to enforce the laws. Senate Bill 2880 is the most aggressive attempt yet to crack down on all the ways Texans are terminating their pregnancies despite the bans. The legislation was filed by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, who is also carrying the clarifying bill. Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, is carrying the House version of the bill, HB 5510. The sweeping bill targets online pill providers and the tech companies that host abortion-related websites. It also would allow wrongful death lawsuits after an abortion and empower the attorney general's office to more easily prosecute abortion offenses. The 'Woman and Child Protection Act' relies in large part on allowing private citizens to sue over violations of the law. This is the same legal framework that allowed Texas to ban nearly all abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy in 2021, evading constitutional questions by removing public enforcement. It would also make it a felony, punishable by up to life in prison, to pay or reimburse the costs of an abortion, a direct hit on abortion funds, which help cover the costs of out-of-state abortions. By going after the internet service providers, social media sites and search engines that power these websites, Texas could potentially undermine the entire network of pills and providers serving abortion-ban states. 'No other state has enacted effective legislation to save mothers and children from the abortion industry's evil new business model,' Texas Right to Life, the state's largest anti-abortion advocacy group, said in a statement. 'Passing this bill would prove that Texans are not satisfied with just closing brick and mortar abortion clinics.' Greer Donley, a reproductive health care law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said the bill as written appears to run afoul of a number of constitutional protections and she anticipates a swift legal challenge if it passes. But a legal battle can take a long time to resolve, and in the meantime, she anticipates companies might go ahead and comply, rather than risk violating the law. 'We just know so much at this point about how risk averse people are. Even doctors that provide reproductive health care to patients directly are risk averse,' she said. 'But internet companies and the manufacturers of abortion pills, companies that are less grounded in the mission, we can expect even more of a chill from them.' Republicans have filed other bills that eat at the edges of the abortion medication issue. SB 2625 filed by Sens. Donna Campbell of New Braunfels and Angela Paxton of McKinney, would require any medical provider to be physically present in Texas before they prescribe abortion-inducing medication to a patient. HB 4593 by Rep. Ellen Troxclair takes a similar approach. HB 1651, filed by Fort Worth Rep. Nate Schatzline, would make it a deceptive trade practice to sell abortion medication online without verification that an in-state doctor had performed an in-person medical exam first. While these bills would heighten the penalties for online pill providers, it's unlikely to pierce the shield that blue states and, in some cases, other countries have wrapped around their abortion providers. While these so-called 'shield laws' haven't been fully tested in court, New York, at least, has shown a willingness to defend its doctors against civil and criminal charges from red states. 'If post-Dobbs has any major lesson that we've learned, it's that when people need an abortion, they find a way to get it,' Donley said. 'I suspect that no matter what happens in Texas, people will find new ways to get access. The question is just, are they forced to do things that are less safe?' Some Republicans are trying a different tack by trying to classify mifepristone and misoprostol, common abortion-inducing drugs, as controlled substances. This legislation is modeled after a similar law in Louisiana, where health care providers say the restrictions have delayed urgent miscarriage care. 'There's no sense in it,' Dr. Nicole Freehill, an OB/GYN in New Orleans, told The Texas Tribune in November. 'Even though we kept trying to tell them how often [these medications] are used for other things and how safe they are, it didn't matter. It's just a backdoor way of restricting abortion more.' HB 1636, filed by Rep. Tom Oliverson of Cypress and Rep. Pat Curry of Waco, has the backing of national anti-abortion groups. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also has designated another abortion bill, SB 33, as a priority. This bill would stop cities and counties from supporting abortion funds and nonprofits that help people travel out of state to terminate their pregnancies. Last year, Austin City Council appropriated $400,000 to help city residents travel out of Texas to get abortions. Attorney General Ken Paxton and a former city councilor sued over the policy, saying it violated state law. Those lawsuits are ongoing. The San Antonio City Council also allocated $500,000 for a reproductive justice fund, some of which was to be used to support out-of-state travel. But after much debate and a lawsuit, ultimately none of the organizations the fund supports pay for abortions or logistical support for abortion-seekers. SB 33 has 18 authors and is expected to pass the Senate easily. The companion bill, HB 1806, filed by Rep. Candy Noble, has four additional co-authors. A flurry of bills from Republicans also attempt to widen the ways doctors, nurses and pharmacists can opt out of providing certain health care due to conscience objections. SB 619, filed by Sen. Kevin Sparks, R-Midland, and HB 2816, filed by Oliverson, would allow health care providers to decline to provide non-emergency medical care due to a sincerely held set of moral convictions. The bills specifically note that they can opt out of providing family planning, counseling and referrals related to contraception, sterilization and abortion. SB 1985, filed by Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, would allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception or abortion medication. Both mifepristone and misoprostol have other uses beyond abortion, including treating miscarriages and some autoimmune disorders, and since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, patients across the country have reported issues in getting these medications from pharmacists. We can't wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more. Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
