The Texas Senate gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill that would allow private citizens to sue out-of-state providers of abortion pills for $100,000 or more. The Senate must vote once more before the bill can head to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk.
Abortion is always banned in Texas unless a pregnant woman's life or a major bodily function is at risk. But some Texans have still accessed the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol through the mail with a telemedicine prescription from an out-of-state doctor.
House Bill 7 aims to put a stop to that practice by allowing lawsuits against anyone who manufactures, prescribes or helps a woman in Texas access those pills. A pregnant woman who takes the pills would not be liable under House Bill 7, which has been characterized by its supporters as a protective measure for women.
"Make no mistake: Big Pharma is taking advantage of loopholes in the law and mailing these pills directly to vulnerable women," said state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, who authored the Senate companion bill to HB7.
Hughes and state Rep. Jeff Leach, HB7's primary author, have cited instances of women receiving abortion pills through the mail without adequate instructions for how to use them, and experiencing medical complications. Critics of HB7 point out that the pills are FDA-approved and broadly considered safe by medical experts — and that self-administered abortion is one of the only options remaining for women seeking abortions.
"Let me be clear: the only reason we have not seen a return to the days of coat hanger abortions is because of the medication abortion pill," said state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, before voting against HB7 in the House.
HB7 is a refined version of a bill that passed the Senate during the regular legislative session but stalled before reaching the House floor. Several controversial provisions were removed from the original version of the bill or tweaked. In response to concerns from groups including the Texas Hospital Association and Texas Medical Association, doctors and medical groups in Texas are not liable under HB7. Internet search engines used in the course of seeking abortion medication are also exempted.
Certain anti-abortion groups, including the Texas Alliance for Life, initially held back support for HB7. Amy O'Donnell, communications director for the Texas Alliance for Life, said the group was concerned the large financial reward outlined in the bill would incentivize "financial bounty hunters," and that associated lawsuits could risk harm to women by exposing their private information.
However, the Texas Alliance for Life gave its support to the final version of HB7, which explicitly prohibits exposure of personal medical information in court filings. It also says that only people who are directly affected — including the pregnant woman and other immediate family members — could receive the full $100,000-plus reward. Other private citizens may receive $10,000 of the reward, with the rest going to a charity.
"I think that it lowers the incentive for bad actors to go after suits for personal gain," O'Donnell said.
The bill's language also gestures toward "shield laws," which several other states have enacted to protect health care providers from lawsuits originating from states where abortion is banned. HB7 puts forth that shield laws would not be a defense "unless the Texas Constitution or federal law compels the court to enforce that law."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is already engaged in an attempt to enforce a Texas court's penalty against a New York doctor who allegedly prescribed abortion pills to a Texas woman, but New York is using its shield law to block enforcement. A federal court may ultimately have to weigh in on the clash between the states' laws.
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