The “trigger law” in Texas has now taken effect, roughly a month after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“What it means is that there’s essentially no abortions in the state allowed, unless there is a threat to the pregnant patient by some health condition either aggravated or caused by the pregnancy,” says political reporter James Barragan. “It’s a very, very narrow scope. So for most intents and purposes, abortion rights advocates are saying that there is no real access to abortions in the state.”
Under the law, there are strict penalties to going agisnt this law, such as life in prison for any doctor who performs an abortion, as well as a civil penalty of a minimum of $100,000.
“There is some confusion about how the law will be enforced,” Barragán notes,
“because this is the new trigger law. But there are also statutes in the books that are still in place from before the Roe versus Wade decision that already enacted abortion bans and had other penalties.”