In a major new blow to abortion rights, the Texas legislature passed a bill late Tuesday that would effectively ban abortions in the state if Roe v. Wade is overturned. (Open in new tab) House Bill 1280, known as the "trigger ban," would take effect 30 days after the Supreme Court overturns the Roe v. Wade decision or if the state is given the authority to ban abortion by court ruling or constitutional amendment. The bill does not make an exception for those who become pregnant as a result of rape or if the fetus is abnormal, and there is only one minor exception: if the life of the pregnant person is in extreme danger.

Besides significantly restricting the constitutionally protected right of pregnant women to receive medical care, the ban would make it a second-degree felony to perform or attempt to perform an abortion, which could be increased to a first-degree felony and punishable by life in prison if the fetus dies as a result. Abortion providers could also be fined $100,000 for attempting to perform an abortion and risk having their medical license revoked if they violate the ban.

The blow comes less than a week after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the fetal heartbeat bill, one of the nation's toughest abortion laws. This was long before many people realized they were pregnant, and certainly did not leave enough time for pregnant women to receive care, especially since the state law (open in new tab) requires all pregnant women seeking an abortion to visit an abortion facility at least twice.

Texas, which bans telemedicine abortions, or remote abortions (open in new tab), has only 21 abortion clinics open statewide, according to 2017 data from the Guttmacher Institute (open in new tab) (though this figure may be different now; see below). This means that many people have to drive back and forth for hours to receive critical care, and they are also pressed for time. And those few providers must serve thousands of people seeking care (56,600 in 2019, according to the data). (Open in new tab)

Trigger bans could have a domino effect on other hostile states that are considering their own restrictive abortion bans that undermine Roe v. Wade. (Hostile states have already introduced bills to weaken Roe v. Wade, and Texas is the 11th state to submit a trigger ban.)

With another major state abortion case (open in new tab) making its way to the (conservatively learned) Supreme Court, the fate of a person's right to treatment is more fragile than ever.