The Texas state Senate approved a bill to allow people to sue anyone who makes or distributes abortion medication in and outside of the state, and the legislation now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) desk.
Senators voted 17 to 8 in favor of House Bill 7, which allows private citizens to receive up to $100,000 in damages in successful lawsuits against makers and distributors of the drugs. Abbott is expected to sign the legislation into law.
Under the bill, almost any private citizen can file a lawsuit against abortion drug makers or distributors, with one of the few exceptions being Texas women who take abortion medication to end a pregnancy.
State Senator Bryan Hughes (R), an author of the bill, has argued that it is meant to protect helpless and “precious, little unborn babies” and their mothers from “poisonous, illegal drugs.”
“You manufacture and ship poisonous illegal drugs into Texas, and people are harmed, you will be held accountable,” he said during the Wednesday night vote. “We make no apology for that. Texas must defend our citizens, and that’s what this bill is about.”
State Senator Carol Alvardo (D) was one of four Democratic lawmakers who spoke against the bill ahead of the vote. She warned that HB7, also called the Texas Woman and Child Protection Act, harms women, children and families by transforming Texas into a “state of surveillance” that incentivizes neighbors to file lawsuits against one another for cash.
“This bill does not protect women, children or families,” she said. “It punishes them.”
“Imagine living in fear of the man behind you at the pharmacy, of the delivery driver, even of your own family. Every word, every prescription, every private conversation could be twisted into evidence. That’s neither freedom nor protections, it’s surveillance and isolation.”
The bill is the latest move by Texas Republicans to squash abortion pill access in the state, and it will potentially present more challenges to abortion shield laws in Democratic-led states.
Texas has almost entirely banned abortion and imposes heavy penalties on people who violate its abortion laws. But abortions are still occurring in the state due to the availability of mail-order abortion medication, which Texans can access via telehealth providers located in states with abortion shield laws in place.
Two high-profile legal tests of abortion shield laws have come from the Lone Star State.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a New York doctor in December for allegedly sending abortion pills to a woman in the state, and a Texas man in July filed a civil lawsuit against a California doctor for allegedly providing his girlfriend, a Texas woman, with abortion pills.
In both cases, abortion shield laws enacted in the home state have made it challenging for the lawsuits to advance.
State senator Molly Cook (D), an emergency room nurse, noted that the bill will “escalate national conflict” by likely dragging Texas into “another legal war with other states” with conflicting abortion laws.
A revised version of the bill passed the Texas state legislature’s lower chamber last week during Abbott’s second special session.
Anti-abortion groups celebrated that revised bill’s passage, which, they argue, now protects women’s privacy and curbs financial incentives.
“It’s already illegal to traffic abortion drugs in Texas under the Human Life Protection Act, and our priority remains enforcement of that and other laws,” said Amy O’Donnell, communications director for Texas Alliance for Life. “The revised version of HB7 provides another tool against illegal abortion-by-mail while including vital protections for women.”
