Senate Bill 802 would require a woman to also receive consultation from a third-party service provider under the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.Ī physician would have to verify that a woman seeking an abortion received the “unique identifying number” provided by the service provider and recorded in a government database. State law already requires a physician to provide a woman seeking an abortion with “informed consent” materials. Governor Patrick’s extreme agenda, and instead focus on the real crises facing Texans.” Required consultation Governor Patrick has made banning abortion a top priority. In an emergency request, the law was sent straight to the Supreme Court, which was left divided over the. The new Texas law will impact any woman seeking an abortion at the six-week point of her pregnancy and beyond. “Most Texans believe abortion should be legal, yet Lt. The heartbeat billa controversial piece of abortion legislation has been signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. “Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick continues to push his extreme agenda by forcing seven anti-abortion bills through the Texas Senate,” Drucilla Tigner, policy and advocacy strategist for the ACLU of Texas, wrote in a statement. Dan Patrick and the Texas Senate ahead of the votes. The average time most women suspect they are pregnant is around five to six weeks, when pregnancy symptoms such as morning sickness and hormonal changes barely start to show. The justices may still rule on the request at a later time.ACLU Texas condemned Lt. The Texas’ Heartbeat bill, also known as Senate Bill 8, makes getting an abortion after a heartbeat is detected, which is usually at about six weeks, illegal. The Supreme Court declined to act on the application, allowing the law to go into effect. Anyone who is able to successfully sue someone over abortion will be able to collect a minimum of $10,000.Ībortion clinics and health care providers filed an emergency petition urging the Supreme Court to block the law from going into effect, warning it would bar "at least 85 percent of Texas abortion patients (those who are six weeks pregnant or greater) and likely forcing many abortion clinics ultimately to close." The Texas ban will be enforced by private citizens who can sue abortion providers or anyone involved in aiding or abetting the procedure after a "heartbeat" is detected. The term "fetal heartbeat" has been criticized by medical professionals and abortion rights activists as misleading because embryos don't possess a heart at that developmental stage. The only possible exception is for medical emergencies. The ban even applies to cases where the woman was impregnated as a result of rape or incest.
It effectively prohibits the procedure when a "fetal heartbeat" can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy-before many women are even aware they are pregnant. The controversial Texas abortion law was signed by Governor Greg Abbott back in May. Above, anti-abortion protesters near the gate of the Texas Capitol on May 29. Janet Porter, the architect of heartbeat abortion bills, is praising Texas' law prohibiting the procedure as early as six weeks of pregnancy. That means that we're about to see a lot more heartbeat bills become law and actually get enforced," she said. "The National Association of Christian Lawmakers just adopted the Texas version of the heartbeat law as their model legislation. But with Texas' success in having the law go into effect Wednesday, Porter predicts that more bans are on the way.
Porter is the president of Faith2Action, which bills itself as the "nation's largest network of pro-family groups." She is also considered to be the mastermind behind the recent wave of heartbeat bills after authoring the first version of such legislation in 2011.Ī dozen states have since passed their own heartbeat bills, though legal challenges have delayed them from being enacted. The video was uploaded to Twitter on Wednesday by the media watchdog group Right Wing Watch. She continued, "Grasp this for a moment: There is a place in the United States where nearly every child facing abortion is protected. That place is Texas, and that day is today," Porter said in a video. "We have long awaited the day when children with beating hearts are legally protected, where our heartbeat laws are actually enacted and enforced. Janet Porter, the architect of heartbeat abortion bills, is praising Texas' "historic" law prohibiting the procedure as early as six weeks of pregnancy.