Texas Senate passes bill aiming to stop flow of illegal abortion pills

The Texas Senate has passed a bill to allow citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, mails, or distributes abortion pills in Texas for $100,000.

Senate Bill 2880 would help expand the Texas Heartbeat Act, which was passed in 2021. Under the Texas Heartbeat Act, abortions cannot be committed after a preborn child’s heartbeat is detected, which is typically around 21 days gestation. The law is unique because rather than enacting criminal penalties, it allowed individual citizens to file lawsuits against anyone who violates the law.

The House version of the bill, HB 5510, is currently still sitting in committee. Rep. Briscoe Cain tweeted on April 30, “House Bill 5510, the Women and Child Protection Act, which saves babies and protects women from the devastating harm of being exposed to dangerous Chemical Abortion Pills is stuck in the House State Affairs Committee. Here’s how you can help. He then followed up by tweeting, “Tell the House State Affairs Committee to vote out the Women and Child Protection Act!”

Last December, New York abortionist Margaret Carpenter was caught shipping abortion pills to women in Texas; a judge has since ordered her to stop, and she was fined $100,000. Then, earlier this year, three people were arrested for committing illegal abortions and running a network of illegal abortion businesses in the Northwest Houston area.

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Under SB2880, anyone who mails or distributes abortion pills can also be sued — including abortion pill manufacturers.

“These are the pills that are being mailed into Texas directly to women, often without instructions, certainly without doctors as before, and without follow-up care after,” Sen. Bryan Hughes, who authored the bill, said. “This is illegal in Texas, but is taking place, and we’ve thus far not been able to protect women.”

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It also looks to discourage lawsuits against the bill, by making any lawyer who files suit responsible for all legal fees incurred on both sides of the case. “The intent is to be a very strong and unequivocal statement to those who would ship these pills into Texas that, don’t do that,” Hughes said. “This is a strong statement about these pills and their harm to little babies and to women. It’s strong.”

In a newly-released study, researchers analyzed insurance data regarding “serious adverse events” resulting from mifepristone (the abortion pill) and reportedly found a 22 times higher event rate than the rate currently held by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These complications included hemorrhaging, infection, sepsis, transfusions, hospitalization, and more.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated since its original publication to add a tweet and information about HB 5510.