Texas governor signs law banning abortions early as 6 weeks
FILE - In this March 30, 2021, file photo, pro-life demonstrators gather in the rotunda at the Capitol while the Senate debated anti-abortion bills in Austin, Texas. Texas has become the largest state with a law that that bans abortions before many women even know they are pregnant. The measure signed Wednesday, May 19, 2021, by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott puts Texas in line with more than a dozen other states that have so-called heartbeat bills.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas has become the largest state with a law that bans abortions before many women even know they are pregnant.
The measure signed Wednesday by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott puts Texas in line with more than a dozen other states that have so-called heartbeat bills.
The measures ban abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, possibly as early as six weeks.
Federal courts have mostly blocked the measures from taking effect. But the Supreme Court agreed this week to take up a Mississippi anti-abortion law and that is seen by abortion rights activists as a broader threat to women’s constitutional right to an abortion.
COPYRIGHT 2022 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
