<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Realizing that most pregnancies are not diagnosed until wee after six weeks, victims of rape and incest will be forced to give birth.</div><div><br></div><div>Another thing . . .</div><div><br></div><div>I have always thought that if men could get pregnant, there would be abortion clinics on every street corner.</div><div><br></div>Courtesy of the <i>Texas Tribune</i> at . . .<div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/18/texas-heartbeat-bill-abortions-law/">https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/18/texas-heartbeat-bill-abortions-law/</a></div><div><br></div><div>————————————————-</div><div><br></div><div><h1 itemprop="headline" class="t-headline t-serif t-lh-s has-b-btm-marg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.1rem; padding: 0px; font-size: 2.1rem; font-family: "pt serif", Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.2; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law one of nation’s strictest abortion measures, banning procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy</h1><p class="has-s-btm-marg has-vert-bar has-vert-bar--from-bp-s t-size-b has-text-yellow" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.92rem; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1.1rem; line-height: 1.4; font-size: 1.1rem; color: rgb(255, 194, 0); border-left-width: 5px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: currentcolor; font-family: "open sans", "helvetica neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span class="has-text-gray-dark" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(74, 74, 74);">The signing of the bill opens a new frontier in the battle over abortion restrictions as first-of-its-kind legal provisions intended to make the law harder to challenge are poised to be tested in the courts</span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><em><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/newsletters/the-brief/?utm_medium=website&utm_source=trib-ads-owned&utm_campaign=trib-marketing&utm_term=inline-CTA-brief" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);">Sign up for The Brief</a>, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.</span></em><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Gov.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/" style="color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-in-out, box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out;">Greg Abbott</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>signed into law Wednesday a measure that would prohibit in Texas abortions as early as six weeks — before some women know they are pregnant — and open the door for almost any private citizen to sue abortion providers and others.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The signing of the bill opens a new frontier in the battle over abortion restrictions as first-of-its-kind legal provisions — intended to make the law harder to block — are poised to be tested in the courts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Abortion rights advocates have promised to challenge the new law, which they consider one of the most extreme nationwide and the strictest in Texas since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. It would amount to an outright ban on abortions, as the six-week cutoff is two weeks after a missed menstrual cycle, opponents say<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The law takes effect in September.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">“Our creator endowed us with the right to life and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion,” Abbott said in a bill signing ceremony, captured on<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1395037572158603265?s=20" style="color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-in-out, box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out;">videos</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>posted on social media. The Legislature "worked together on a bipartisan basis to pass a bill that I'm about to sign that ensures that the life of every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The governor’s signature comes just after the U.S. Supreme Court said it would hear a case concerning a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, and which could lead to new limits on abortion rights. It is the first major abortion case heard before the court's newly expanded conservative majority, and could have far-reaching<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/why-a-mississippi-law-being-challenged-in-the-supreme-court-could-mean-abortion-will-be-effectively-banned-in-texas/" style="color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-in-out, box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out;">effects</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>for Texas, where a pending bill would outlaw nearly all abortions if the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Senate Bill 8 was a top priority for Republican lawmakers, nearly all of whom signed on as an author or sponsor of the measure.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The bill bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. It includes cases where the woman was impregnated as a result of rape or incest. There is an exception for medical emergencies.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Similar “heartbeat” bills have been passed by other states and held up by the courts, but Texas’ version has a twist.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Instead of having the government enforce the law, the bill turns the reins over to private citizens — who are newly empowered to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps someone get an abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. The person would not have to be connected to someone who had an abortion or to a provider to sue.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Proponents of the new law hope to get around the legal challenges that have tied up abortion restrictions in the courts. While abortion providers typically sue the state to stop a restrictive abortion law from taking effect, there’s no state official enforcing Senate Bill 8 — so there’s no one to sue, the bill’s proponents say.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">“It’s a very unique law and it’s a very clever law,” said Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. “Planned Parenthood can’t go to court and sue Attorney General [Ken] Paxton like they usually would because he has no role in enforcing the statute. They have to basically sit and wait to be sued.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Legal experts have been<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/18/texas-anti-abortion-bill-courts/" style="color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-in-out, box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out;">divided</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on the strategy, and abortion rights advocates have said they plan to fight regardless.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Elisabeth Smith, chief counsel for state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which has represented abortion providers who have sued Texas officials, said it and other abortion rights organizations are “not going to let this six-week ban go unchallenged.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Drucilla Tigner, policy and advocacy strategist of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said the “governor’s swipe of a pen can’t change the Constitution.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">While the law amounts to the most extreme abortion ban in the country, “abortion is both legal in Texas and supported by the majority of Texans,” Tigner said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Abortion rights advocates and lawyers say the new law would allow for a cascade of lawsuits against abortion providers that would sap their time and money even if they ultimately won in court.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Family members, abortion funds, rape crisis counselors and other medical professionals could be open to lawsuits, under the broad language in the bill, according to legal experts and physicians who opposed the measure. People who sued would be awarded at least $10,000, as well as costs for attorney’s fees, if they won.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">“Every citizen is now a private attorney general,” Blackman said. “You can have random people who are against abortion start suing tomorrow.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">John Seago, with Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion organization that supported the bill, said he doubted there would be an “overwhelming number of cases on day one.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Lawsuits might be filed by anti-abortion activists who learned through talking to the woman that she got an abortion after six weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">“There’s going to be a lot of different (fact) patterns that could lead to the case,” he said. But the bill isn’t “throwing out the typical way that the judicial system works — there's still going to be a judge, there's still going to be depositions, there's going to be a high bar” before fees are awarded.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The ultimate goal, he said, is to incentivize abortion providers to comply with the law instead of fighting it in court.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">They can “easily avoid all of that,” Seago said. “Have a public statement. Put it on their website that they’re not scheduling appointments after six weeks.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The bill does not allow rapists to sue, but abortion rights advocates say the wording offers flimsy protection as most rapes and sexual assaults aren’t reported and don’t result in a conviction.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Most abortions in Texas were prohibited after about 20 weeks. Pill-induced abortions were barred at 10 weeks. An abortion provider must perform a sonogram on the woman 24 hours before the abortion and give them information about medical risks, abortion alternatives and assistance available to those who follow through with their pregnancy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">More than 56,600 abortions were performed on Texas residents in 2019, according to state statistics, most of them in the first trimester.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Proponents of the law celebrated its signing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">“The Legislature and Governor prioritized this historic legislation, and with his signature, approximately 50,000 precious human lives will be saved in Texas next year alone!” said Chelsey Youman, with Human Coalition Action, an anti-abortion organization.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Texas Right to Life called the bill’s signing a “landmark victory,” but said a more comprehensive measure was still waiting for a vote in the Legislature.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">“Texas Right to Life reminds our elected officials of their solemn duty to protect the lives of their citizens, especially the most vulnerable and innocent Texans in the womb. The signing of the Texas Heartbeat Act marks a historic step in the battle to protect Life,” the organization said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Opponents of the legislation condemned its passage.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Dyana Limon-Mercado, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, the political arm of Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas, said the six-week cutoff amounted to an effective ban on abortions in the state.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">“When you factor in the time it takes to confirm a pregnancy, consider your options and make a decision, schedule an appointment and comply with all the restrictions politicians have already put in place for patients and providers, a six-week ban essentially bans abortion outright," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Amy Hagstrom Miller, head of Whole Woman’s Health, an abortion provider that has four clinics in Texas, said the law will have a “chilling effect.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Protesters have previously falsely reported Whole Woman’s Health clinics to state health officials for allegedly having the wrong water heater permit, not following social distancing protocols during the pandemic, and other perceived regulatory infractions, she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The “false reports disrupt health care services and this culture of threats and accusations is designed to intimidate providers,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">About 90% of women who come to Whole Woman's Health clinics are more than six weeks into their pregnancy, she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Whole Woman's Health has sued Texas over abortion restrictions, and won a 2016 case that went up to the Supreme Court.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The bill was opposed by more than<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A38eff803-3fd3-498b-a6b4-658305bf6beb#pageNum=2" style="color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-in-out, box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out;">300 Texas lawyers</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>who said it undermined longstanding rules and tenets of the legal system, including that a person must be injured to sue.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The law would also let someone file a lawsuit in their home county against an abortion clinic, and stop the case from being transferred to a different venue.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">In practice, legal experts say it would be more costly and difficult for abortion providers to play legal defense before a judge hundreds of miles away, and it could let anti-abortion advocates be heard in courts that they think will be more sympathetic.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Seago, with Texas Right to Life, said it “will be interesting to see (how) the other kind of alternative avenues (handle) these debates.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">“We know how Judge (Lee) Yeakel and Judge (Sam) Sparks handle these cases,” he said, referring to two federal judges who reliably strike down Texas abortion restrictions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="t-copy" style="margin: 1.1rem auto; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 41.5rem; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Disclosure: Planned Parenthood has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/support-us/corporate-sponsors/" style="color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-in-out, box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out;">list of them here</a>.</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br></div><div>————————————————-<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">http://www.MoscowCares.net</span></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></div></body></html>