Abortion in Texas

[9] In March 2023, a Galveston man sued three friends of his ex-wife for wrongful death after they helped her obtain illegal abortion pills that were used to terminate her pregnancy.

[11] The legal status of abortion in Texas is due to a trigger law passed in July 2021 that came in effect on August 25, 2022, as a consequence of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning Roe v.

[13][14] This act relied solely on enforcement by private individuals through civil lawsuits, thus evading pre-enforcement challenges based on Roe v. Wade.

[15] In August 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 3058[16] into law, allowing doctors to provide abortions in the case of an ectopic pregnancy or if a pregnant patient's water breaks too early, rendering the fetus unviable.

[17] In December 2023, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that a pregnant woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition and whose pregnancy posed a threat to her health could not be permitted to receive an abortion.

[26][27] One of the largest groups of women strongly tending to oppose legal abortion in the United States is southern white evangelical Christians.

[33] Following the US Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973, the State of Texas decided not to repeal abortion laws on the books that had become unconstitutional and unenforceable.

Private hospitals were allowed to refuse the use of their facilities to provide abortion services unless a physician determined that the pregnant woman's life was in immediate danger.

"[64] An exception was provided for non-abortion clinics that perform fewer than 50 abortions a year, such as doctor offices, hospitals or ambulatory services.

The bill made no exceptions for rape or incest; it did provide exemptions for ectopic pregnancies that threaten the life of the woman "when a reasonable alternative to save the lives of both the mother and the unborn child is unavailable.

[68] The law was written this way to prevent abortion providers from challenging the constitutionality of the statute before it takes effect in the ordinary manner, which involves injunction suits against state officials charged with enforcement in federal court.

[72] In August 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 3058 into law, which states that doctors may provide abortions in the case of an ectopic pregnancy or if a pregnant patient's water breaks too early, rendering the fetus unviable.

[81] In the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, 579 U.S. ___ (2016), the US Supreme Court in a 5-3 decision on June 27, 2016, swept away forms of state restrictions on the way abortion clinics can function.

[95] In December 2023, Kate Cox, a pregnant woman in Texas, sued for access to an emergency abortion; this was the first publicized lawsuit of its kind in the United States in 50 years, since Roe v. Wade in 1973.

[99][101][102] Paxton also appealed Gamble's ruling to the Texas Supreme Court, where his office argued: "A fatal fetal condition does not meet the medical exception".

[105] In March 2024, a woman sued the Starr County, Texas district attorney after being improperly arrested and charged with murder for having an abortion in April 2022.

[106] On May 31, 2024, the Texas Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that upheld the three laws, with one plaintiff, Dr. Karsan, having the standing to sue the state government after being threatened by the attorney general, Ken Paxton.

[107] Two justices: Brett Busby and Debra Lehrmann, issued a concurring opinion that left the door open to a broader challenge to the law, but only to overturn it completely.

It opened in April 2018, and staff members engaged in daily prayers while materials around the facility encouraged people to read the Bible and to pray more.

[33] During a six-year stretch in the 1980s, Carol Everett ran a number of abortion clinics in Austin; she later shuttered these after she had a "come to Jesus" moment.

[122] The passage of legislation regarding local government's ability to do business with abortion service providers on June 7, 2019, impacted Planned Parenthood in East Austin.

[158][160] An analysis from the Gender Equity Policy Institute found that from 2019 to 2022, the rate of maternal mortality cases in Texas rose by 56%, compared with just 11% nationwide during the same time period.

[163] On July 10, 2022, 2 weeks after Roe v. Wade was overturned, 27-year old Yeni Glick of Luling, Texas died due to pregnancy related complications.

The truck is part of a series of events put together for South by Southwest (SXSW) by several pro-abortion rights organizations,[186] including Plan C, Fight for the Future, Project for Empty Space and Women on Web.

[187] This network will mobilize supporters to respond to local threats to reproductive health and actively work to restore and expand abortion access in Texas.

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in February, blocking a limited number of prosecutors from going after anyone who helps a Texan travel out of state to terminate a pregnancy.

[191] Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, abortion rights protests were held in Austin,[192] Dallas, Denton,[193] Houston,[194] and San Antonio.

[200] In September 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued California-based company, Yelp Inc, over crisis pregnancy center labeling.

The lawsuit came a day after Yelp preemptively sued Paxton in the Northern District of California arguing that the company's labeling of these centers as not offering abortion services were true, not misleading, and protected free speech.

[203] A package left at a women's health clinic in Austin, Texas, on April 25, 2007, contained an explosive device capable of inflicting serious injury or death.