{"id":35857,"date":"2021-06-22T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T16:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/texas-governor-signs-trigger-abortion-ban\/"},"modified":"2021-06-22T12:01:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T16:01:00","slug":"texas-governor-signs-trigger-abortion-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/texas-governor-signs-trigger-abortion-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas governor signs ‘trigger’ abortion ban"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Washington D.C., Jun 22, 2021 \/ 10:01 am<\/p>\n

The governor of Texas signed two bills last week, to prevent the future closure of churches during disasters and to ban abortions if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned.<\/p>\n

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the bills among a series of other measures last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He signed the Human Life Protection Act of 2021, House Bill 1280, on June 16. The bill makes it illegal for anyone to \u201cknowingly perform, induce, or attempt an abortion,\u201d with exceptions for situations where the life of the mother would be at risk in continuing the pregnancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Women who have abortions would not be held liable or penalized under the law. Abortionists could be fined $100,000 for illegal abortions.<\/p>\n

The bill would only go into effect, however, 30 days after the Supreme court issued a judgment \u201coverruling, wholly or partly, Roe<\/em> v. Wade<\/em>, as modified by Planned Parenthood <\/em>v. Casey.<\/em>\u201d The 1973 Roe decision legalized abortion nationwide and prohibited states from banning \u201cpre-viability\u201d abortions. The 1992 Planned Parenthood ruling upheld Roe and established a new test, prohibiting state abortion regulations from imposing an \u201cundue burden\u201d on abortion.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, Texas\u2019 \u201ctrigger\u201d law would also go into effect after any Supreme Court decision or constitutional amendment that permitted states to ban abortion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Texas Senate passed the bill on May 25 by a vote of 19 to 12. On May 6, the Texas House of Representatives approved the bill by a vote of 81 to 61. The bill was sponsored in the Senate by state Sen. Angela Paxton (R) and in the House by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Human Life Protection Act of 2021 is essentially the opposite of bills in states such as New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts, which codified a right ot abortion even if the Supreme Court were to rule otherwise.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n