DALLAS — Abortion restrictions have been popping up across the country in advance of the new U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Dobbs vs. Women’s Health case from Mississippi, which had been anticipated after the political firestorm over a recent leak.
Texas has been at the forefront of legislative efforts to outright ban abortion after six weeks with its 2021 passage of Senate Bill 8, a law enacted on Sept. 1.
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the Texas law to stand.
In 2018, Mississippi passed the “Gestational Age Act,” prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks, but was never enacted and has remained embroiled in this legal fight since.
What are the key differences between the laws passed by Mississippi and Texas?
Gestational age
Mississippi’s “Gestational Age Act” bans abortion after 15 weeks except in cases of medical emergency and in cases of severe fetal abnormality.
Texas’ Senate Bill 8, bans abortion after six weeks except in cases where there is medical emergency.
Neither ban has provisions for incest or rape.
Enforcement and penalties
Mississippi’s law allows medical licensing officials to take away licenses of those who violate. The law says those who violate commit “an act of unprofessional conduct and his or her license to practice medicine in the State of Mississippi shall be suspended or revoked pursuant to action by the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure.”
Further, the state’s Attorney General “shall have authority to bring an action in law or equity to enforce the provisions of this section on behalf of the Director of the Mississippi State Department of Health or the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure. The Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure shall also have authority to bring such action on its own behalf.”
The law requires that each abortion preformed is reported through a system and those who falsely report will be subject to $500 in fines for each offense.
Texas’ abortion ban which has already been operating for several months relies on private citizens to enforce the law, empowering those to sue anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion, not just the providers as Mississippi’s law lays out.
The novel enforcement approach has withstood every legal challenge so far, largely because it does not rely on state officials to enforce it. Most recently, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the case after it went to the Texas Supreme Court on a question regarding medical licensing officials. The state’s highest court said they were not empowered to reprimand those who violate.
Those who file a lawsuit against anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion not allowed under the law can sue for up to $10,000.
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