Once again, Texas lawmakers are looking to prevent women from being able to get abortions –– this time, though, they may actually get what they want.
The Texas Senate passed an anti-abortion bill on Friday that puts new restrictions on both women seeking and doctors performing abortions. Senate Bill 8, most commonly known as SB 8, was approved by a 22-9 vote and now moves to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for signature, according to The Austin Chronicle.
The bill is pretty much as extreme as it gets, classifying aborted fetuses as living people, claiming abortion is murder, and stating doctors who perform such procedures are felons punishable by law. SB 8 would prohibit the donation of fetal tissue and cord blood from abortions and miscarraiges, and ban “dismemberment” and “partial-birth” abortions” (known medically as dilation and extraction, both of which are used for second trimester abortions). What’s more, it also requires that fetal remains be cremated or buried, a rule already blocked by a federal judge in Austin in January.
Anti-abortion supporters need not jump for joy yet, though, because the Supreme Court has previously intervened and stopped the passing of unconstitutional abortion laws in Texas. What will happen with SB 8 is yet to be known, but we can only hope it’s not a major loss for reproductive rights.