Texas’ new legislation, by design, will be difficult to preemptively challenge, as it’s enforced by ordinary citizens. A legal clash is likely only after someone is sued under it. “They’re trying to provoke a fight over the Comstock Act,” Hill said, referencing an 1873 federal law banning the mailing of abortifacients that the anti-abortion movement … Read more
The legislation lets private citizens sue people who mail abortion medications to Texans. It offers a blueprint for state lawmakers trying to stop their residents from circumventing abortion bans. Read more at 19th News
Wrongful death suit alleges that California doctor mailed the pills to Texas, where virtually all abortions are outlawed Read more at The Guardian
The bill was poised to offer a blueprint for abortion restrictions nationwide. Read more at 19th News
In other words, Texas legislators not only want to make sure no one can start a discussion on these topics, they also want to make sure no one can find one. The goal is to wipe this information from the internet altogether. That creates glaring free-speech issues with this bill and, if passed, the consequences would … Read more
The bill’s backers have said they intend to target the medical professionals mailing abortion pills, which could provide a blueprint for other states. Read more at 19th News
Women who have suffered pregnancy complications under Texas’ ban say new legislation wouldn’t have helped them. Read more at Salon
Some observers believe that the timing of all this is also strategic. Abortion activist Jessica Valenti (who used to write this newsletter and now writes Abortion, Every Day) has noted that Rojas was arrested weeks ago. Why did Paxton wait until now to send out a press release? Valenti reckons he is trying to distract … Read more
If passed and signed into law, the measure would introduce civil liabilities for distributors of abortion pills and create a civil liability for “the wrongful death of an unborn child” as a result of taking the medications — and empower the “biological father of the unborn child” to file those civil lawsuits. It would also … Read more
Texas Republicans pre-filed several bills to target pills. One would make it a “deceptive trade practice” to send pills via mail without a prescription from an in-state doctor after an in-person exam. Similar to a measure in Louisiana that doctors warn will delay life-saving care, another would reclassify abortion drugs as dangerous “controlled substances”. Yet … Read more
