A broad coalition of Texas abortion providers, doctors, clergy, abortion funds and practical support networks filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to block Senate Bill 8, a new six-week abortion ban in Texas. The ban is set to take effect on September 1.
Due to many barriers to abortion care in the state, approximately 85–90 percent 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.
“Texas has long led the country in passing extremist laws intended to chip away at Texans’ right to safe, accessible abortion care,” said Adriana Piñon, policy counsel and senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, “from imposing long waiting periods, to forcing people to undergo an unnecessary ultrasound, to requiring people to listen to false information about abortions under the guise of ‘health consultations.’ Now the state is trying to prevent people from getting abortions, full stop.”
