The de facto ban on virtually all surgical abortions after six weeks recently came into effect in Texas after the Supreme Court declined to temporarily block it, but Texas Governor Gregg Abbott has now signed another abortion ban into law.
The new ban prohibits the use of medication to administer an abortion after just seven weeks.
Senate Bill 4, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday, prohibits a person "from providing an abortion‑inducing drug to a pregnant woman without satisfying the applicable informed consent requirements for abortions." The law requires physicians providing abortion drugs to comply with certain physician reporting requirements. Anyone who "intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly violates" the bill faces a state jail felony offense.
A state jail felony offense is punishable by 180 days to two years to jail and a fine not exceeding $10,000, according to the state's penal code.
Abbott signed the legislation into law last Friday, but his signature was not disclosed to the public until yesterday evening.
Opponents of abortion say surgical abortion should be outlawed because it's not safe. But abortion is safe and that's obviously just an excuse that serves as a substitute for religious and moral objections not based on science or health. It's just easier to use the safety argument in court than it is quote scripture.
It's even more ridiculous to assert that medication abortion is not safe given that it's the safest procedure, but that's not stopping them from recycling the same arguments.
Businesses have flocked to Texas over the last decade because of incentives and low property costs, but any company still thinking of moving there should reconsider in their own bests interests. Governor Abbott and Republicans in the state legislature are throwing everything they can against the wall, and yet Abbott is still facing primary challenges from his right flank by the likes of state GOP chairman Allen West who says Abbott is not sufficiently batshit.
Republicans with total control will use their power to make a state as inhospitable as possible to a diverse workforce built for the modern economy. The GOP is bad for business unless your only business is selling god, guns or coffins to white people.