All but one state neighboring Texas also have passed 'heartbeat' laws
AUSTIN – The new Texas abortion law is estimated to reduce the number of abortions in Texas by 85%, according to a University of Texas study, and is expected to push Texans seeking abortions outside state lines.
"This is effectively an abortion ban for Texans without the resources and the ability to leave the state," said Sarah Wheat, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas.
SB 8 prohibits doctors from providing an abortion after detecting a fetal heartbeat. It effectively bans any abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, when many women have not determined that they are pregnant. At Planned Parenthood's Texas facilities, providers are adhering to the law and speaking with women seeking guidance — walking a fine line to avoid legal action as allowed under the law.
More: Texas passed one of the nation's strictest abortion bans. How have other state bans fared?
"For our patients who've heard something about it, they are really stunned when they understand how extreme this is," Wheat said.
For Texans looking elsewhere, the closest clinics are in states that, for the most part, also are hostile to abortion, according to a Guttmacher Institute study.
Already, some abortion providers in neighboring states are reporting an increase in clients.
More: New Texas abortion law increasing clients at OKC clinic, provider says
Officials at Clinic Trust Women said they had seen more women at their clinics in Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kan., in the weeks leading up to the law taking effect. That clinic is coordinating with several groups to assist with providing abortion services to Texas women.
Planned Parenthood Greater Texas is doing similar work, but the law also prevents providing assistance or even guidance for women seeking an abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected.
"This law targeted not only the health centers that provide the services but also the organizations and individuals who help support people in Texas who are accessing abortion," Wheat said.
Abortion is legal in all states, but many conservative states, and especially those in the South, have enacted tight restrictions.
Oklahoma
New abortion restrictions are set to take effect in Oklahoma on Nov. 1. Those include the state's own "heartbeat" law, which Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed this year.
The law allows the state to charge doctors with homicide if they perform an abortion procedure after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. That law, along with two other abortion laws taking effect Nov. 1 create further penalties and limitations for doctors who perform abortions.
Arkansas
In Arkansas, a law signed in March bans all abortions at conception, except for procedures undertaken to preserve the health of the mother. That law was suspended by a federal court in July.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has said his goal for the law is to create court challenges that could overturn 1973's Roe v. Wade landmark ruling.
Louisiana
Louisiana lawmakers passed a bill in 2019 that also bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Like the Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas laws, there are no exceptions for rape or incest.
But the state's heartbeat bill includes a unique caveat added by Louisiana lawmakers: The ban will only take effect if a similar law in Mississippi is upheld by a federal appeals court.
Efforts to ban abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat have been part of a coordinated effort more than a decade in the making that has seen scores of laws passed in multiple states, a USA Today/Arizona Republic investigation found.
New Mexico
New Mexico is the least restrictive of Texas' neighbors and earlier this year lawmakers repealed a 1969 ban on abortion in a symbolic move to strike a law that had been unenforceable since the Roe v. Wade ruling.
More: New Mexico Legislature repeals unenforceable abortion ban; governor expected to sign
Mexico
There are tight restrictions on abortions in Mexico. Procedures are permitted in every state through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions vary state to state.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas' new abortion ban will send women out of state
