Bill > SB6

This bill, known as the Woman and Child Protection Act, creates a comprehensive legal framework for restricting abortion-inducing drugs in Texas, primarily through a novel qui tam enforcement mechanism. It prohibits manufacturing, distributing, mailing, transporting, delivering, prescribing, or providing abortion-inducing drugs, with specific exceptions for medical emergencies, ectopic pregnancies, or treating a dead unborn child. The bill allows any person (except state employees or political subdivisions) to bring a civil lawsuit against anyone who violates these restrictions, with potential statutory damages of at least $100,000 per violation. The legislation includes significant legal protections for defendants, such as defenses for those unaware they were violating the law and who took reasonable precautions. The bill also includes provisions to prevent out-of-state "clawback" lawsuits against those pursuing abortion-related legal actions in Texas, and grants the Attorney General parens patriae standing to bring actions on behalf of unborn children. Additionally, the bill creates extensive jurisdictional limitations that make it difficult to challenge the law's constitutionality, specifies that the Fifteenth Court of Appeals will have exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over related cases, and includes a severability clause to ensure that if any part of the law is found invalid, the remaining provisions will remain in effect. The law is set to take effect on September 1, 2025.