United States: In Texas, the Senate passes a bill to limit access to abortion pills
The Republican-majority Texas Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would allow citizens to sue anyone who facilitates the delivery of the abortion pill in the conservative US state, where abortion is widely prohibited.
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"This bill aims to ensure that Big Pharma (the pharmaceutical industry, editor's note) can no longer ship toxic pills to Texas just to inflate their profits at the expense of life," reacted Republican Senator Bryan Hughes on X. Photo Sipa / Eric Gay
A bill allowing citizens to sue anyone who facilitates the delivery of the abortion pill. This is the text that the Republican-majority Texas Senate adopted Wednesday in this conservative American state, where abortion is widely prohibited.
The bill, passed by the state House of Representatives at the end of August, must now be signed into law by conservative Governor Greg Abbott. Texas senators passed the legislation by a vote of 17 to 9, according to the Texas Senate website.
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Once enacted, this law will allow any citizen, as a private citizen, without even being a party to the law, to sue any potential offender, with damages of at least $100,000. While it does not provide for prosecution of women seeking to obtain them, the text prohibits the prescription, manufacture, or shipment of abortion pills.
The legislation marks another victory for the anti-abortion movement in the United States, which has been galvanized since a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that dramatically rolled back the right to abortion in many states across the country.
"This bill is about protecting the little baby growing in the womb," Republican Senator Bryan Hughes responded on X. "This bill is about ensuring that Big Pharma can no longer ship toxic pills to Texas just to boost their profits at the expense of life," the conservative lawmaker added.
The bill "gives Texans the role of bounty hunters," Democratic Senator Carol Alvarado lamented, quoted by the New York Times. By overturning Roe v. Wade, the federal abortion guarantee, in 2022, the Supreme Court made states the sole jurisdiction in this matter. Since then, around twenty states have banned or severely restricted access to abortion.
Texas prohibits all abortions, including in cases of incest or rape, but except where there is a danger of death or serious disability for the mother.
A New York doctor was recently fined $100,000 in Texas and is facing criminal charges in Louisiana for remotely prescribing abortion pills to patients in those southern states. In Texas, a man sued a California doctor last July, accusing him of sending abortion pills to his girlfriend.
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