On September 1, Texas passed an anti-aborton law, S. B. 8 which makes it illegal for people to have an abortion after six weeks. This law is in total contrast to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the landmark case of Roe v. Wade which protects a person’s choice to have an abortion.

Not only is this law a heinous restriction of human rights, it also creates an incentive for citizens to go after clinics and anyone involved in the medical procedure through lawsuits.

This new law will force women to go across state lines to receive safe care. Basic medical care is now farther out of reach for women. They may not be able to afford costs for child care, transportation to an abortion clinic, or taking time off from work to care for a child or to have the procedure. A harrowing image is that of women who don’t have access to abortion clinics taking matters into their own hands through home methods.

According to an article by the Texas Tribune, this new law “Prohibits abortions once a ‘fetal heartbeat’ — a term medical and legal experts say is misleading — can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many people know they’re pregnant,” and that it “prevents at least 85% of the procedures previously completed in the state.”

Women who don’t yet know that they’re pregnant aren’t allowed to terminate a pregnancy that they may not have planned for. However, they should be allowed to dictate their own bodies which includes the decision to terminate a pregnancy.

This new law has created a dangerous environment for establishments that facilitate the procedure. Private citizens, which is any person from anywhere, may be incentivized to sue those who aid women that are seeking to end a pregnancy, regardless of the circumstances. There’s no exception made if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.

The New York Times reports, “The law allows them to collect cash judgments of $10,000 — and their legal fees — from those they sue. If they lose, they do not have to pay the defendants’ legal costs.” Anyone involved in the procedure besides the woman seeking an abortion are able to be sued by someone who believes the proceedure has taken place, even if they don’t know for certain whether it has happened. South Dakota and Florida are also looking into implementing S. B. 8.

The Supreme Court has also turned their backs on Texans by refusing to block the legislation, which is something that the court has done over and over again in the past to protect women’s constitutional rights. NPR reports that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer delivered a scathing dissent stating, “A majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand… Because the court’s failure to act rewards tactics designed to avoid judicial review and inflicts significant harm on the applicants and on women seeking abortions in Texas, I dissent.” 

This new Texas law is just a way to circumvent Roe v. Wade and make it that much more difficult for women to have access to abortion clinics. Those clinics and their individual employees face being sued by people for providing safe medical care just because someone else believes they have a say over a person and their body autonomy. Those vigilantes aren’t the ones caring for or raising those children. This legislation is undoubtedly going to be challenged in the courts in the future and might even make its way up to the Supreme Court once again.