Texas legislators approved a measure on Wednesday that enables private citizens to file lawsuits against manufacturers of abortion pills, medical providers, and those who mail the medications. This move positions Texas to become the first state to attempt a clampdown on the nation’s most prevalent abortion method.
This legislation would be unprecedented in the U.S. and would impose an additional layer of abortion restrictions in Texas, already known for some of the strictest abortion laws and a near-total ban on the procedure.
The bill is heading to Republican Governor Greg Abbott, a known opponent of abortion, who is expected to sign it into law. The regulations are set to take effect in December, though it is anticipated to face legal challenges from advocates of abortion rights.
Proponents of the measure, which secured final approval in the Republican-majority Texas Senate, argue it serves as a crucial mechanism for enforcing the state’s abortion ban and safeguarding women and fetuses. Critics, however, view it as another attempt to curtail abortion access and intimidate providers outside Texas who adhere to their own state laws. They also contend it would promote vigilantism.
The measure would empower citizens to provide enforcement
The measure allows Texas residents to file lawsuits against those producing, distributing, or supplying abortion-inducing drugs within the state, with claims of up to $100,000. Women who personally use the pills would not be held accountable.
Should the bill pass, providers could face up to a $100,000 penalty. However, only the pregnant woman, her partner, or close family members could claim the full amount. Anyone else filing a lawsuit could receive a maximum of $10,000, with the remaining $90,000 being allocated to charity.
Lawmakers also added language to address worries that women would be turned in for seeking to end pregnancies by men who raped them or abusive partners. For instance, a man who impregnated a woman through sexual assault would not be eligible.
The measure has provisions that bar making public the identity or medical details about a woman who receives the pills.
It wasn’t until those provisions were added, along with the limit of a $10,000 payment for people who aren’t themselves injured by the abortion, that several major Texas anti-abortion groups backed the bill.
Texas Right to Life, one of the state’s most prominent anti-abortion groups, called it the “strongest pro-life law” in the country.
“This trend is killing tens of thousands of babies a year and harming their mothers, but today, our law became a blueprint for the rest of the country,” said John Seago, the group’s president.
The idea of using citizens rather than government officials to enforce abortion bans is not new in Texas. It was at the heart of 2021 law that curtailed abortion there months before the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for other state bans to take effect.
In the earlier law, citizens could collect $10,000 for bringing a successful lawsuit against a provider or anyone who helps someone obtain an abortion. But that measure didn’t explicitly seek to go after out-of-state providers.
“It is an attempt to turn a Texas abortion ban into a nationwide abortion ban,” Democratic state Sen. Carol Alvarado said before the bill cleared a final vote. “If California or New York tried to impose their gun laws or climate policies on Texas, this legislature would be outraged.”
Abortion pills have proliferated, even where they’re banned
Pills are a tricky topic for abortion opponents. They were the most common abortion method in the U.S. even before the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to enforce abortion bans.
They’ve become even more widely used since then. Their availability is a key reason that the number of abortions has risen nationally, even though Texas and 11 other states are enforcing bans on abortion in all stages of pregnancy.
The pills have continued to flow partly because at least eight Democratic-led states have enacted laws that seek to protect medical providers from legal consequences when they use telehealth to prescribe the pills to women who are in states where abortion is illegal.
Texas is already in legal fights over shield laws and abortion pills
Earlier this year a Texas judge ordered a New York doctor to pay more than $100,000 in penalties for providing abortion pills to a Dallas-area woman.
The same provider, Dr. Maggie Carpenter, faces criminal charges from a Louisiana prosecutor for similar allegations.
New York officials are invoking their states’ shield laws to block extradition of Carpenter and to refuse to file the civil judgment.
If higher courts side with Louisiana or Texas officials, it could damage the shield laws.
Meanwhile the attorneys general of Texas and Florida are seeking to join Idaho, Kansas and Missouri in an effort to get courts to roll back U.S. Food and Drug Administration approvals for mifepristone, one of the drugs usually used in combination for medication abortions, contending that there are safety concerns. They say it needs tighter controls because of those concerns.
If the states are successful, it’s possible the drug could be distributed only in-person and not by telehealth.
Major medical organizations including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say the drug is safe.
