Texas legislators approve the leash private citizens Pursue suppliers of abortion pills

Texas legislators approved on Wednesday, leaving the deprivation to continue the manufacturers of abortion pills, doctors and anyone who send the medication, which has made the state the first to repress the most common abortion method.

The law would be the first of its kind in the United States and added another layer of abortion restrictions in Texas, which has some of the most difficult in the country and already prohibits almost all abortions.

The bill now goes to the Republican Governor Greg Abbott, an opponent of abortion which should sign it. It would take effect in December, although it is almost certain to arouse judicial disputes from supporters of abortion rights.

Supporters of the proposal, who adopted a final vote in the Texas Senate controlled by the GOP, call this a key tool to enforce the prohibition of the State and protect women and fetuses. Opponents consider it not only as another way to slow down abortion, but to intimidate suppliers outside of Texas who comply with the laws of their states. They also say that it would encourage a form of vigilantism.

As part of the measure, Texas residents could pursue those who manufacture, transport or provide abortion drugs to anyone in Texas up to $ 100,000. Women who receive the pills for their own use would not be responsible.

Under the invoice, providers may be ordered to pay $ 100,000. But only the pregnant woman, the man who imbued her relatives or other relatives could collect the total amount. Any other who continues could only receive $ 10,000, the remaining $ 90,000 going to the charity.

Legislators have also added a language to respond to the concerns that women are sent back to try to end pregnancies by men who raped them or abusive partners. For example, a man who imbued a woman by sexual assault would not be eligible.

The measure has provisions according to which the drafting to make public identity or medical details on a woman who receives the pills.

It was only when these arrangements were added, as well as the limit of a payment of $ 10,000 for people who are not themselves injured by abortion, that several large anti-abortion groups of Texas supported the bill.

Texas Right to Life, one of the most important anti-abortion groups in the state, described it as “strongest pro-life” in the country.

“This trend kills tens of thousands of babies per year and harms their mothers, but today, our law has become a plan for the rest of the country,” said John Seago, president of the group.

The idea of ​​using citizens rather than government representatives to enforce abortion prohibitions is not new in Texas. It was at the heart of the law of 2021 which reduced abortion over there for months before the United States Supreme Court paved the way for other state bans.

In previous law, citizens could receive $ 10,000 for having brought legal action against a supplier or anyone who helps someone get an abortion. But this measure did not explicitly try to continue the providers outside the State.

“This is an attempt to transform a prohibition of abortion in Texas into a ban on the national level,” said the senator of the Democratic State Carol Alvarado before the bill empties a final vote. “If California or New York were trying to impose their laws on firearms or their climatic policies in Texas, this legislature would be native.”

The pills are a delicate subject for adversaries of abortion. They were the most common abortion method in the United States even before the decision of the United States Supreme Court in 2022 which canceled ROE v. Wade and authorized states to enforce abortion prohibitions.

They have become even more widely used since then. Their availability is one of the main reasons why the number of abortions has increased nationally, even if Texas and 11 other states require abortion prohibitions at all stages of pregnancy.

The pills have continued to flow in part because at least eight states led by democrats have promulgated laws that seek to protect medical providers against legal consequences when using remote charts to prescribe pills to women who are in states where abortion is illegal.

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 woman from the Dallas region.

The same supplier, Dr. Maggie Carpenter, faces criminal charges of a Louisiana prosecutor for similar allegations.

New York officials invoke the shield laws of their states to block Carpenter’s extradition and refuse to file the civil judgment.

If the upper courts are on the side of the officials of Louisiana or Texas, this could harm the laws on the shield.

Meanwhile, Texas and Florida general prosecutors seek to join Idaho, Kansas and Missouri in order to ensure that the courts are strengthening the Food and Drug Administration of the United States for Mifepristone, one of the drugs generally used in combination for abortions by drugs, claiming that there are security problems. They say he needs more strict controls because of these concerns.

If states succeed, it is possible that the drug is distributed only in a person and not by remote charts.

The main medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and gynecologists, say that the drug is sure.