Abortion Providers and Advocates File Lawsuit Attempting to Block Dangerous Texas Anti-Abortion Bill The "heartbeat bill" empowers individuals to sue anyone who helps an abortion-seeker Photo: Sergio Flores / Stringer (Getty Images) On Tuesday, abortion rights advocates and providers filed a federal lawsuit in Texas in an attempt to block the state’s terrifying recently passed anti-abortion legislation that empowers private citizens to sue literally anyone who helps a person seeking an abortion. The Texas “heartbeat bill” allows individuals to sue not just abortion funds and providers, but also friends of an abortion seeker who help with expenses or drive them to their appointment—even religious leaders who provide spiritual counsel to a person considering an abortion could be held liable under the restrictive law. In order to block the unconstitutional legislation, which is set to take effect in September, the organizations behind the federal lawsuit have asked a judge to prevent any Texas trial court judge from enforcing the law and to block county clerks from accepting the lawsuits.