Doctors, Clergy Sue Over New Texas Law That Offers $10,000 Bounty on Abortions

Rolling Stone covered a lawsuit, filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners, to block S.B. 8, a Texas law banning abortion care after approximately six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they are pregnant. The law incentivizes private individuals—including anti-abortion activists—to seek monetary penalties and injunctions by suing anyone who performs an abortion or assists someone in obtaining one. 

Amy Hagstrom Miller, President and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health and Whole Woman’s Health Alliance discussed the impact of S.B. 8 on clinics and patients, saying “Our staff teams and our physicians are terrified. The teams are on edge. They’re very worried. The ultrasonographer that I spent yesterday with was telling me that already 80 percent of the patients she’s been serving in the last month have been asking while they’re in the clinic on the day of their abortion if it’s legal. Can you imagine what that feels like as a patient and as a staff person on the ground in Texas? I am furious.” 

“Abortion is legal in every state in this country,” Elisabeth Smith, Chief Counsel for State Policy and Advocacy for the Center, told Rolling Stone. “Access to medical care is a fundamental right under the federal constitution. There will be lots of defenses available to someone who is sued. But no one wants to be dragged into a Texas courtroom and have to spend the time and the resources to find representation and to go through a civil proceeding.”

Read Doctors, Clergy Sue Over New Texas Law That Offers $10,000 Bounty on Abortions in Rolling Stone.