An emergency petition has been filed with the Supreme Court to stop Texas' new abortion bill from going into effect Wednesday.
It would make abortion illegal once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is most often before a woman knows she's pregnant. The ACLU of Texas is one of the entities that filed the motion and their Adriana Pinon says
approximately 85% to 90% of people who obtain abortion in Texas are at least six weeks into pregnancy, meaning this law would prohibit nearly all abortions in the state.
SB 8 is different from other heartbeat bills. "It permits anybody, irrespective of whether they were injured of have a connection to an abortion to sue in state court, if there is a violation of the law. And it incentives these lawsuits by placing a $10,000 minimum someone gets if they are successful in their lawsuit brought under SB 8."
Other petitioners include the National ACLU, Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood, the Lawyering Project, and Morrison & Foerster LLP.
This filing comes after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the plaintiff's request on Sunday to block the law.
Pinon says they are going to the High Court "because it is our last resort to ensure that the constitutional right to an abortion of all Texans is not but eliminated."
She says other state's fetal heartbeat laws have been struck down in federal court. The Texas law is the first to be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Supporters say the law would save "thousands of lives," calling the bill the strongest pro-life legislation since Roe versus Wade.
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