abortion in texas abortion in texas abortion in texas is illegal in most cases. a trigger law has been in effect since august 25, 2022, which bans abortion in all cases except to save the life of the mother. on september 1, 2021, abortion became illegal in texas in cases where embryonic cardiac activity can be detected. before this, elective abortions were allowed up to 20 weeks post-fertilization. in addition to measures passed by the texas legislature, there have been anti-abortion efforts at the local level, with 30 texas cities banning abortion. when the abortion legislation was introduced as senate bill 8, abortion providers described it as a de facto ban on abortions, as it covers abortion once "cardiac activity" in the embryo can be detected, which is earlier than when most women know that they are pregnant. the only exception for abortions past six weeks is in response to medical emergencies. the law makes no exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. the law can only be enforced through private lawsuits. the constitutionality of sb 8 is a matter of intense legal controversy. as of september 2021, several legal challenges were pending in state and federal courts. as of december 2021, medication abortions are permitted only up to seven weeks and the patient must be examined and receive the medication in-person. effective july 24, 2022, abortion was outlawed in texas following the supreme court decision dobbs v. jackson women's health organization, which overturned the landmark ruling roe v. wade, and gave the states the option to outlaw abortion. the state of texas had a trigger law in place that would automatically ban all abortions in texas 30 days after roe v. wade was overturned. the only scenario where abortion is permitted is to save the life of a pregnant woman. the state however decided to enforce pre-roe statutes instead. as of august 25, 2022, the trigger law is in effect as well. abortion is decriminalized in the texas cities of austin, dallas, denton, el paso, and houston. terminology reflecting its nature and legislative intent, the texas heartbeat act uses the term "unborn child" for the fetus or embryo irrespective of the gestational phase in the definition section: "'unborn child' means a human fetus or embryo in any stage of gestation from fertilization until birth." texas health and safety code sec. 171.201(7). history political support one of the largest groups of women strongly tending to oppose legal abortion in the united states is southern white evangelical christians. legislative history by the end of the 1800s, every state in the union except louisiana had therapeutic exceptions in their legislative bans on abortions. in the 19th century, bans on abortion by state legislatures were concerned with protecting the life of the mother, given the number of deaths caused by abortions. state governments saw themselves as looking out for the lives of their citizens. in 1854, texas passed an abortion law that made performing an abortion, except in the case of preserving the life of the mother, a criminal offense punishable by two to five years in prison. the law, found in articles 4512.1 to 4512.4, had a provision stipulating that anyone who provided medication or other means to assist in performing an abortion was an accomplice who could also be charged. 1990s following the us supreme court ruling in roe v. wade in 1973, the state of texas decided not to repeal abortion laws on the books that had become unconstitutional and unenforceable. a law passed in 1992 said that only texas-licensed physicians could perform an abortion in the state. a law passed in 1997 gave physicians, nurses, health care provider employees and hospital employees who objected to abortions the ability to refuse to participate directly or indirectly in the procedure. private hospitals were allowed to refuse the use of their facilities to provide abortion services unless a physician determined that the pregnant woman's life was in immediate danger. twenty-one abortion-related bills were introduced in the texas legislature in 1997. five were eventually enacted: tx sb 407 (1997), tx sb 1534 (1997), tx hb 1 (1997), yx hb 39 (1997), and tx hb 2856 (1997). tx sb 86 (1997) reached a floor vote but did not pass. tx sb 407 allowed for the texas department of health to suspend the license of an abortion facility if the health and safety of people using the facility were threatened. this bill was introduced by senator chris harris on february 5, 1997, and passed on february 18, 1997, by a voice vote. it then continued to the house, where it passed by a voice vote on april 18, 1997, before being signed into law by governor george w. bush on may 1, 1997. tx sb 1534 dealt with funding, stating that no state funding could be used to support, either directly or indirectly, abortion or abortion-related issues. introduced by democratic senator gonzalo barrientos on march 20, 1997, the wording about abortion was only added to the legislation during negotiations between the house and the senate, with the amended version passing both houses in mid-may 1997. tx hb1 said that funds allocated for the department of health for family planning services could not be used by the department of health or any organizations it provides money to in support of abortion services, either directly or indirectly. this included a proviso that said this was organization-wide, not just as it relates to specific facilities. representatives republican mccall, democrat leticia van de putte, democrat gray, democrat greenberg and republican solomons introduced tx hb39 on january 28, 1997. originally only about genetic testing with no mention of abortion, the legislation was amended by the senate, stating that genetic testing of a fetus could not be done on the fetus without the consent of the mother and that the results of any subsequent genetic testing could not be used to compel or coerce a woman into getting an abortion, including having an insurance company threaten the eligibility of health care coverage. these changes were then passed by the house and the bill was signed into law by governor bush on june 20, 1997. tx hb 2856 put in new requirements for abortion clinics, inspection procedures of clinics and a clinic's ability to advertise. it said the texas department of health had to assign each licensed abortion clinic a unique number, clinics needed to have this number in any advertising materials and created a toll-free number people could call to check the status of a clinic's license. information on the toll-free number had to be provided to women seeking abortion services by the facility offering them at the time of appointment. this law underwent some changes before being passed by voice vote in the house on may 13, 1997, and by a vote of 31 - 0 in the senate on may 26, 1997. it was signed into law by governor bush on june 19, 1997. tx sb 96 reached a floor vote but was eventually removed from consideration following a point of order on may 27, 1997. it would have required minors seeking abortions without parental consent to have the procedure first approved by a physician not located at an abortion clinic certifying the need for the abortion because of physical, sexual or emotional harm caused by continuing the pregnancy. it would have also required minors to wait 48 hours before being able to have an abortion after their physician contacts their parents to notify the parents of approval for the procedure. 2000s texas passed a statute requiring parental notification in the early 2000s. this law resulted in a 21% increase in 17-year-old girls seeking abortions in the second trimester. in 2003, the legislature passed a law that required all abortions after 16 weeks take place in an outpatient surgery center and required a 24-hour waiting period before women could get an abortion. clinics were also required to give women a "woman's right to know" pamphlet which included factually incorrect medical information. in 2005, the 79th legislature enacted several laws related to abortion. one was a parental consent law. they also passed a "late-term" abortion ban. other laws dealt with the funding aspects of abortion and family planning, trying to prevent funds for women's reproductive health from going to organizations that provided information about abortions or provided abortion services. texas was one of 23 states in 2007 to have detailed abortion-specific informed consent requirements. statute-required informed consent materials given to women in texas used graphic and inflammatory language. the law also required the woman to be told how far advanced her pregnancy was. texas was among states to have passed laws requiring abortion providers to warn patients of a link between abortion and breast cancer and to issue other scientifically unsupported warnings. informed consent materials given to women seeking abortions in texas include counseling materials claiming women who have abortions may have suicidal thoughts or experience "post-abortion traumatic stress syndrome." the latter syndrome is not recognized by american psychological association or the american psychiatric association. informed consent materials about fetal pain in texas say the ability of the fetus to feel pain does not exist until 20 weeks, before concluding that it is unknown if a fetus can feel pain at 12 weeks. the legislature tried to pass a "mandatory ultrasound" bill but it failed to pass in 2007. 2010s as of march 2012, 20 states required women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound before being allowed to have the procedure. mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds have been particularly controversial. in texas, for instance, even if previous ultrasounds had indicated severe birth defects, a woman seeking an abortion was required under a 2012 law to have another ultrasound done, "administered by her abortion doctor, and listen to a state-mandated description of the fetus she was about to abort", though state-issued guidelines later eliminated the ultrasound requirement if the fetus had an "irreversible medical condition". in 2013, a state targeted regulation of abortion providers (trap) law was applied to medication-induced abortions and private doctor offices. an early pregnancy abortion bill was previously introduced in texas by representative phil king on july 18, 2013, in the wake of rick perry signing texas senate bill 5 into law. the bill was not passed. supporters of texas senate bill 5, which included requirements for abortion clinics to meet ambulatory surgical center regulations and for abortion clinic doctors to have hospital admitting privileges, said the bill improved health care for women and babies. opponents of the bill said it created unnecessary regulations for the purpose of reducing access to abortions. at the time of the bill's signing into law in 2013, only five of the state's forty-two abortion clinics met the law's requirements. courts had blocked the enforcement of similar laws in some other states, pending lawsuits challenging their constitutionality. a federal district judge determined this law to be unconstitutional, finding that the admitting privileges requirement placed an undue burden on a person seeking to have an abortion; however, this decision was reversed by the fifth circuit court of appeals, resulting in the immediate closure of all but seven abortion clinics in the state, all of these in urban areas. for patients in texas's rio grande valley, the nearest clinic was 300 miles away. while cities like austin passed legislation to require crisis pregnancy centers (cpcs) to disclose their status and that they did not offer abortion services, organizations representing the cpcs have been successful in courts challenging these laws, principally on the argument that forcing the cpcs to post such language violated their first amendment rights and constituted compelled speech. while previous attempts at regulating cpcs in baltimore and other cities were based on having signage that informed the patient that the cpc did not offer abortion-related services, the fact act instead makes the patient aware of state-sponsored services that are available rather than what the cpcs did or did not offer. the law went into effect january 1, 2016. in 2017, texas was one of six states where the legislature introduced a bill that would have banned abortion in almost all cases. it did not pass. among those who believe that abortion is murder, some believe it may be appropriate to punish it with death. while attempts to criminalize abortion generally