Here’s Your Guide To What’s Going On With Texas’s Baby-Saving Heartbeat Law
The Texas heartbeat law is much more complicated—and less dramatic—than what is being portrayed by the president and corporate media.

By Heather Hacker, September 8, 2021

https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/08/heres-your-guide-to-whats-going-on-with-texass-baby-saving-heartbeat-law/

On Sept. 1, the Texas heartbeat bill became law, the first time a “heartbeat bill” has become enforceable law in any state. The Supreme Court’s decision declining to enter emergency relief against the law even prompted a direct condemnation from President Joe Biden, who called the decision “an unprecedented assault” on Roe v. Wade.

But the situation is much more complicated—and less dramatic—than what is being portrayed by the president and the corporate media.

What is the Texas Heartbeat Law?

On May 19, 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Texas Heartbeat Act, which prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, except in cases of medical emergency.

The Texas Heartbeat Act is unique among abortion laws in that it does not impose criminal sanctions or administrative penalties on those who violate the statute, and it specifically prohibits state officials from enforcing the law. Instead, the Heartbeat Act authorizes private civil lawsuits to be brought against those who violate the law, and provides that these private citizen-enforcement suits are the sole means of enforcing the statutory prohibition on post-heartbeat abortions.

How do the Heartbeat Law’s private-enforcement lawsuits work?

The Heartbeat Law allows suits to be brought by any person with evidence an illegal abortion has been performed, but merely bringing a suit does not entitle that person to receive civil penalties or other relief. Normal rules of civil procedure and Texas precedent apply in terms of the standard of proof involved, confidentiality, and the way the cases proceed in court.

The Heartbeat Law prohibits suits from being brought against women who receive abortions, nor may a suit be brought by someone who impregnated the abortion patient through rape, sexual assault, incest, or other criminal act. The Heartbeat Law also provides that abortion providers have a defense if they can show that awarding relief would be an “undue burden” for a woman or group of women seeking an abortion, which is the legal standard given by the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

How did the case get to the U.S. Supreme Court?

The Texas Heartbeat Act was scheduled to take effect on Sept. 1, 2021. On July 13, 2021—nearly two months after Abbott signed the bill into law—a group of abortion facilities, doctors, and associated organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, located in Austin.

Because the law did not allow for enforcement by government officials, the abortion plaintiffs instead tried to sue judicial officials to prevent the private-enforcement suits from being filed or considered, which is unusual. The plaintiffs sued a state district judge in Smith County, Texas as a defendant class representative of every non-federal judge in Texas. They also sued the clerk for the district court of Smith County as a defendant class representative of every Texas court clerk.

The abortion plaintiffs also sued the Texas attorney general and several state agency officials, as well as Mark Lee Dickson, a pro-life activist. The plaintiffs waited until Aug. 7, 2021, to file a motion for preliminary injunctive relief.


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