New six-week abortion ban comes into effect in Texas

A ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy in Texas came into effect on Wednesday after an emergency request to block the law was ignored by the Supreme Court.

The court, with a conservative 6-3 majority, including three justices nominated by former president Donald Trump, had until midnight on Tuesday to take action but chose not to do so â€" allowing the most radical abortion law in the US to take effect.

The legislation is close to a complete ban on abortions in the state and gives any private citizen the ability to sue an abortion provider who breaks the law, prompting fears from care providers that anti-abortion activists will be able to close almost all clinics in the state.

The executive director of the abortion support group the Lilith Fund, Amanda Williams, who sued to challenge the law, told The Guardian that “abortion access will be thrown into absolute chaos”.

“Unfortunately, many people who need access the most will slip through the cracks, as we have seen over the years with the relentless attacks here in our state. It is unbelievable that Texas politicians have gotten away with this devastating and cruel law that will harm so many,” she added.

Republican governor Greg Abbott signed the bill in May after it was passed by the Texas legislature, where Republicans are also in power.

Senate Bill 8 bans all abortions once embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, which takes place after around six weeks of pregnancy at a time when most people are unaware that they are pregnant.

While the law offers exceptions for medical emergencies, it offers no exceptions for rape or incest.

Texas is the first state in the US to ban abortions this early in pregnancy since the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision in January 1973 that established a woman’s right to choose to end a pregnancy without excessive interventions from the government.

In this 5 May, 2021, file photo, Texas Democratic lawmakers stand to oppose a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state after six weeks of pregnancy.

While other states have passed similar laws, sometimes referred to as “heartbeat bills”, the Texas law is the first one not to be blocked by the courts.

This legislation is different in that it takes the pressure of enforcing the law off government officials by allowing private citizens to sue an abortion provider or anyone who “aids and abets” anyone who wants to get an abortion. This could include driving them to an appointment, helping with funds to pay for the procedure or providing information on how to get an abortion. Removing government officials from the process makes legal challenges to the law more difficult.

Abortion providers in the state say the law “immediately and catastrophically reduces abortion access in Texas” and will prevent around 85 per cent of women in the state from getting an abortion, as most don’t know they’re pregnant early enough.

Clinics in the state have said that they have been turning patients away for appointments as the law was set to come into effect.

Dr Ghazaleh Moayedi, an abortion provider in the state, told The Guardian: “We are all going to comply with the law even though it is unethical, inhumane and unjust.

“It threatens my livelihood and I fully expect to be sued. But my biggest fear is making sure the most vulnerable in my community, the black and Latinx patients I see who are already most at risk from logistical and financial barriers, get the care they need,” he added.

The Guttmacher Institute found that since many now will have to drive out of state to get the care they need, the new law will mean that the “average one-way driving distance to an abortion clinic” will “increase from 12 miles to 248 miles, 20 times the distance”.

Taking the time to do so will depend on a care seeker’s financial status and work schedule, among other complicating factors.

When Texas ended most abortion care as the pandemic took hold of the state in March 2020, the number of patients who left the state for abortion care increased by almost 400 per cent.

In a statement to The Washington Post, the president of the Centre for Reproductive Rights, Nancy Northup, said: “Patients will have to travel out of state â€" in the middle of a pandemic â€" to receive constitutionally guaranteed healthcare. And many will not have the means to do so. It’s cruel, unconscionable, and unlawful.”

Abortion opponents said that Wednesday was “a historic and hopeful day”, while the director of Houston Women’s Reproductive Services, Kathy Kleinfeld, told The Washington Post: “It’s just really unclear what the future will hold for women in Texas. I really don’t know. I don’t feel pessimistic. I don’t feel optimistic. I’m just right in the middle, cautiously waiting.”

Backing the bill, the legislative director of Human Coalition Action Texas, Chelsey Youman, said Texas was “the first state to successfully protect the most vulnerable among us, preborn children … Human beings are worthy of protection at all phases of development.”

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