TEXAS, USA — On Wednesday, 666 new laws went into effect in Texas.
Among them, the controversial SB8, also known as the Heartbeat Bill. This bill bans abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy, often before many women realize they're pregnant.
Out of all the heartbeat bills across the nation, attorney Justin Roberts says none of them are quite like Texas' because this one is enforced by private citizens.
“The proponents of this bill basically have seen how heartbeat bills in other states have been tied up in litigation," Roberts said. "By taking this approach, and removing a state actor that's enforcing the bill, it makes it a lot harder to clamp down on, or present a legal challenge to the bill.”
A private citizen can sue anyone who helps someone else get an abortion. If they win in court, they can collect at least $10,000.
A couple of caveats Roberts said to keep in mind — the person actually getting the abortion cannot be sued.
He also doesn’t suspect many of these cases to hold up in court just because of how hard it would be to know if someone is violating the law.
“You really have to know a lot about what a physician is telling a specific person and how far along that person is in their pregnancy," Roberts said. "For the citizen trying to lead one of these cases, there's a lot of unknowns."
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports the average Texan will need to travel 248 miles to get an abortion out of state.
Other notable bills that went into effect Wednesday are:
- SB 968, banning vaccine passports
- HB1024, making alcohol-to-go sales permanent
- HB 1535, expanding eligibility for the state’s medical-marijuana program to include people with cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder
- HB 1925, making public homeless camping a criminal offense