Texas Senate poised to pass ‘trigger’ ban, prohibiting abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned
Texas Senate poised to pass ‘trigger’ ban, prohibiting abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned
Senators continued the push to restrict abortion on Monday after giving preliminary approval to a bill that would ban abortion in the state if the Supreme Court ever overturns Roe v. Wade.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, listens to debate on HB 1927 on the Senate floor on Wednesday, May 5th. The bill, already passed in the House, would eliminate permit requirements to carry a handgun in Texas if the holder is not prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a gun. (Bob Daemmrich, Special Contributor) (Bob Daemmrich / Daemmrich/CapitolPressPhoto)
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AUSTIN As John Seago looked up at the Texas Capitol, he smiled. For 12 years, he has walked across the manicured lawns, schmoozing with legislators in the
limestone halls. He has always urged lawmakers to “be bold. In a state as antiabortion as Texas, he’d tell them, “there is no excuse not to be aggressive.”
Finally, they listened.
On a windy Wednesday afternoon in mid-May, Seago reached into his suit pocket for the Texas Legislative Handbook, where he tracks each lawmaker’s support for the bills he considers most important as legislative director for Texas Right to Life, the state’s largest and oldest antiabortion organization. As he flipped through the pages of headshots, he reflected on his latest success:
The annual March for Life concludes at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., U.S. January 27, 2017. | Reuters/James Lawler Duggan
Democrats are vowing that any action by the United States Supreme Court to alter the legal precedent on abortion will add âfuelâ to the push among some in their party to add seats to the nation s highest court.
Congressional Democrats issued the warning after the Supreme Court announced that it would decide on the constitutionality of Mississippiâs 15-week abortion ban by hearing the case of
Dobbs v. Jackson Womenâs Health Organization. The state of Mississippi is asking the court to review a lower court decision finding that the ban on abortions more than 15 weeks into a pregnancy is unconstitutional.Â
Protesters on both sides of the abortion issue gather in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building during the Right To Life March, on January 18, 2019, in Washington, D.C. The Right to Life Campaign held its annual March For Life rally and march to the U.S. Supreme Court protesting the high court s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision making abortion legal. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Pro-life activists are hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court will take the opportunity to listen to scientific reasoning to overturn elements of
Roe v. Wade as the high court has agreed to hear a challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of gestation.
The Supreme Court recently announced it will take up Dobbs v. Jackson Women s Health Organization, a challenge to a Mississippi law that all but bans abortions after 15 weeks. It s the first case in years that could result in the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that, along with a companion case, Doe v. Bolton, legalized abortion on demand everywhere in the country.
A ruling probably won t come until next summer, which is plenty of time for everyone to lose their minds.
The outright overturning of Roe is just one possibility, and not necessarily the most likely. David French, my colleague at The Dispatch and a prominent lawyer and court watcher, argues that the most likely outcome is a narrower ruling that upholds Dobbs without fully overturning Roe. This, French writes, would establish a new standard that permits greater abortion regulation without explicitly permitting abortion bans. It s anyone s guess what that standard would be, but one possibility is kee