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The “heartbeat bill” banning abortion at six weeks gestation went into effect on Wednesday in Texas after the Texas Supreme Court failed to rule on an emergency petition filed by clinics in that state to block it.
The state’s governor, Greg Abbott, signed the bill in May to incorporate Texas into a group of states in the country that bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected to protect the life of the unborn, which is usually around the sixth week of pregnancy.
The lack of judicial intervention has caused the rule, also known as Senate Bill 8, to go into effect pending a Supreme Court ruling.
The legislation allows individuals to file civil lawsuits against anyone who assists a pregnant woman to have an abortion in violation of the ban, so abortions cannot be performed when the heartbeat of the unborn child can be detected.
All this comes as the Supreme Court prepares to hear in its next session, which begins in October, an appeal of a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which could lead to changes in abortion laws nationwide.
