Abortion advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against Texas’s attorney general and others in an effort to block a law allowing citizens to sue abortion providers.
Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and several others filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, seeking a declaratory judgment that Texas’s Senate Bill 8 is invalid and cannot be enforced by any defendant named in the lawsuit.
If abortion providers offer abortions in violation of S.B. 8, “they and their staff could be forced to defend dozens if not hundreds of simultaneous S.B. 8 lawsuits scattered across the state,” according to the lawsuit.
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The plaintiffs argue the enforcement of S.B. 8, which “flagrantly violates the constitutional rights of Texans seeking abortion and upends the rule of law in service of an anti-abortion agenda,” will lead to “vigilante enforcement lawsuits” if providers continue performing abortions.
“Moreover, a steady stream of random strangers could seek injunctive relief preventing the abortion providers from performing prohibited abortions going forward — and do so in any of hundreds of state courts of their choosing,” they continue.
A sticking point for the pro-abortion groups was the law’s ban on abortions for any pregnancy past the six-week mark.
“The law bans abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy, … [but] many people do not realize they are pregnant until after six weeks,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “Approximately 85-90% of people who obtain abortions in Texas are at least six weeks into pregnancy, meaning this law would prohibit nearly all abortions in the state.”
S.B. 8, the Texas Heartbeat Act, comfortably passed Texas’s GOP-led House and Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in May. The law provides for “private civil actions” to enforce the legislation’s Subchapter H requirement that “a physician may not knowingly perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman unless the physician has determined, in accordance with this section, whether the woman’s unborn child has a detectable fetal heartbeat.”
“The commission shall enforce this chapter except for Subchapter H, which shall be enforced exclusively through the private civil enforcement actions described by Section 171.208 and may not be enforced by the commission,” the law states.
Although the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade legalized abortions nationwide, some states have argued the procedure is subject to some restrictions at the local level, and many right-leaning states, such as South Carolina, have attempted to impose restrictions banning abortions in cases in which fetal heartbeats are detected. These efforts have been largely shot down by federal courts.
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The plaintiffs are also seeking a preliminary injunction to stop S.B. 8 from taking effect on Sept. 1.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office for comment.
