Texas weighs new abortion limit

It joins several other states in pushing ‘heartbeat’ legislation

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas has several laws that women seeking abortions have to navigate, including a 24-hour waiting period between a mandatory ultrasound and the procedure.

One lawmaker has filed a bill to add another restriction — banning abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks, before a woman may realize she’s pregnant.

Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain’s bill would ban abortion after heartbeat detection except in the case of medical emergencies. Current law allows abortion up to 20 weeks.

“The Texas Heartbeat Bill ensures that unborn children exhibiting a heartbeat are protected from the cruel practice of abortion,” Cain said in an email. “Put simply — if the heartbeat is detected, the baby is protected.”

Cain said the heartbeat is a universally recognized sign of life and that he is committed to making Texas the safest place in the country for “unborn children.”

Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and other abortion-rights organizations have raised alarm about the bill, sending supporters emails that say the legislation would ban abortion completely in Texas.

“Politicians should be working to advance access to the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion care — not making it more difficult,” NARAL Pro Choice Texas Executive Director Aimee Arrambide said in an email. “Shame on Briscoe Cain and all anti-abortion legislators who have signed on in support of this dangerous bill, and for putting their ideological beliefs over public health.”

In an email, former state Sen. Wendy Davis said the legislation is “one of the most dangerous bills [I’ve] ever seen.”

Since Cain filed the bill Feb. 7, 56 Republicans have signed on as authors. All are men except three: Reps. Stephanie Klick, Candy Noble and Valoree Swanson.

Texas House Republicans filed a similar bill in 2013, but it never made it to a committee and only four lawmakers signed on as authors.

In Mississippi, a heartbeat bill passed in the House and Senate and could soon become law. Others are making their way through legislatures in Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Abby Johnson, a former Texas Planned Parenthood director who now opposes abortion, recently testified in Kentucky before a heartbeat bill passed in the state Senate. She said she hopes the bill will pass in Texas.

“Ultimately, my goal would be to ban abortion completely, but this is a good step moving the ball forward for the pro-life movement and in protecting many more babies and moms from abortion,” Johnson said. “I don’t think it’s ever just to intentionally take the life of an innocent human being.”

Johnson had two abortions before the 2011 Texas law requiring a pre-abortion sonogram — and before she changed her opinion, she said.

“My two abortions are the greatest regrets of my life,” Johnson said. “That is not what women deserve.”

Similar laws in several states have lost legal challenges. In January, an Iowa state judge struck down the state’s 2018 heartbeat law, declaring it unconstitutional. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 2013 North Dakota heartbeat law. And in 2015, a federal appeals court blocked a 2013 Arkansas law that banned abortion after 12 weeks if there was a heartbeat.

The 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion, and the Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling from 1992 prohibits states from placing an undue burden on women seeking them.

Joe Kobylka, director of undergraduate studies for political science at Southern Methodist University, said that as the Supreme Court has understood precedent, he believes that the law would be unconstitutional. But with conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the bench, he said, the court could decide differently.

“This is one of those cases where the two [President Donald] Trump appointments to the court can be absolutely crucial in determining whether the abortion right survives,” Kobylka said, referring to Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch. “This is why states keep passing heartbeat laws. It’s an effort to move the car a little further down the road with the ultimate destination of the reversal of the abortion rights.”

Cain said the Texas heartbeat bill was written with input from constitutional attorneys who have argued cases before the Supreme Court.

The bill was referred to the House Public Health Committee last month, and a companion bill is expected to be filed in the Senate.