Local efforts to decriminalize abortion in Texas likely won’t help clinics stay open – By Eleanor Klibanoff (Texas Tribune) / June 25, 2022
District attorneys and local leaders in five counties have promised not to pursue criminal charges related to the state’s new abortion laws. But civil and administrative fines could be financially devastating or cost health care providers their licenses.
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Some local Texas officials are taking steps to guarantee that abortion seekers and providers in their communities won’t face criminal charges in the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, but legal experts say these initiatives are unlikely to meaningfully change the landscape of abortion access in the state.
Since Friday’s ruling, the state’s abortion clinics have stopped performing the procedure. Abortion funds, which help pay for procedures out of state, have halted their work fearing legal repercussions.
Texas lawmakers passed a law last year that would ban abortions, with narrow exceptions, if the Supreme Court overturned Roe. The law criminalizes the person who performs the abortion, not the person who undergoes the procedure.
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