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Senate Bill 4, enacted Friday by Governor Greg Abbott, prohibits a person “from providing an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman without meeting the informed consent requirements applicable for abortions.” The law requires physicians providing abortion medication to comply with certain physician reporting requirements. Anyone who “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly violates” the bill is liable to a state prison offense.
A state prison misdemeanor is punishable by 180 days to two years in prison and a fine not exceeding $ 10,000, according to the state penal code.
The law joins another controversial new abortion law in the state that infuriated reproductive rights activists, whose efforts to prevent it from taking effect were rejected by the Supreme Court earlier this month. This law prohibits abortions after six weeks and allows anyone – as long as they are not a government official – to bring a civil action in state court against a provider accused of violating the law. prohibition.
CNN has reached out to Abbott’s office for comment on SB 4, which goes into effect in December.
NARAL Pro-Choice America Acting President Adrienne Kimmell said in a statement Monday that the new law “blatantly infringes on Texans’ fundamental freedoms and makes access to healthcare even more inaccessible.”
“Anti-choice politicians in Texas are launching their attacks on abortion access from every angle imaginable,” she said, adding that they “have made their intentions clear and will not back down. nothing to suppress the freedom of reproduction “.
Abbott had previously attempted to restrict so-called medical abortions in Texas last year when he signed an executive order that was interpreted as restricting access to abortion in the state, citing the need to preserve personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.
The governor’s order sparked a legal battle that ultimately led a federal appeals court to say in April 2020 that it would reject a Texas request to block medical abortions, a procedure where a patient takes two pills, which is often performed early in pregnancy. Abortion providers have argued that no PPE is used for a medical abortion.
Meanwhile, another legal battle over the state’s six-week abortion ban looms after a San Antonio doctor who publicly said he violated the ban was hit in recent times. days by at least two lawsuits against him under the ban, both from plaintiffs who say they oppose the new law.
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