Question

Legislators are enacting public policies and legislation that dictate what a woman may and cannot do in terms of her reproductive rights. Senate Bill 8 (SB8) otherwise called the heartbeat bill, that was signed into law in 2021, is one critical talking point.

Answer 1

According to an article by Caryn Rabin, Answers to Questions About the Texas Abortion Law, once cardiac activity in the embryo is found, the law prohibits abortion. Around the sixth week of pregnancy, this happens. According to the bill, an embryo has implanted and has a neural tube, and the blood artery that would grow into the heart has begun pulsating at this point. The bill as a sign of life is based on this pulsing, or heartbeat. The article counters that the cardiac activity recorded on ultrasound is not a real heartbeat, but rather the consequence of electrical activity, as the heart valves have not yet developed. Furthermore, the sound does not imply that the pregnancy is viable or that it is showing signs of life.

          According to an article by Joanne Murray, Texas abortion law an assault on democracy, the legislation does not overtly prohibit abortion; rather, it empowers private individuals to sue providers and others in civil court. The law makes it possible for anybody to file a lawsuit for the first time against anyone who helped in the abortion. It shifts the duty for enforcement away from state officials and instead deputises and incentivizes citizens to serve as plaintiffs. Pro-life advocates, on the other hand, argue the fear that people have of otherwise uninterested citizens turning into bounty hunters and chasing abortion providers is unfounded, citing a recent judge's temporary restraining order that prevented one group from suing Planned Parenthood as evidence that checks and balances are in place. 

The law makes it possible for anybody to file a lawsuit for the first time against anyone who helped in the abortion. It shifts the duty for enforcement away from state officials and instead deputises and incentivizes citizens to serve as plaintiffs.