Texas lawmakers approve letting private citizens sue abortion pill providers

Texas lawmakers on Wednesday approved letting private citizens sue abortion pill manufacturers, doctors and anyone who mails the medication, setting the state up to be the first to try to crack down on the most common abortion method.

The law would be the first of its kind in the U.S. and add another layer of abortion restrictions in Texas, which has some of the toughest in the country and already bans nearly all abortions.

The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, an abortion opponent who is expected to sign it into law. It would take effect in December, though it is nearly certain to spark legal challenges from abortion rights supporters.

Supporters of the proposal, which passed a final vote in the GOP-controlled Texas Senate, call it a key tool to enforce the state’s ban and protect women and fetuses. Opponents see it as not only another way to rein in abortion but intimidate providers outside Texas who are complying with the laws in their states. They also say it would encourage a form of vigilantism.

The measure would empower citizens to provide enforcement

Under the measure, Texas residents could sue those who manufacture, transport or provide abortion-inducing drugs to anyone in Texas for up to $100,000. Women who receive the pills for their own use would not be liable.

Under the bill, providers could be ordered to pay $100,000. But only the pregnant woman, the man who impregnated her or other close relatives could collect the entire amount. Anyone else who sues could receive only $10,000, with the remaining $90,000 going 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.

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