Texas Has Found a Creative New Way to Punish Abortion Patients

Galvanized by the very real possibility that the Supreme Court is poised to overrule Roe v. Wade in the coming months, Republican-controlled legislatures around the country are racing to pass extreme new restrictions on abortion. Four states have enacted laws banning all abortions from conception; nearly a dozen more have passed “heartbeat bills” that seek to ban the procedure at six weeks. On Wednesday, Texas joined this bloc when GOP Gov. Greg Abbott signed the state’s own “heartbeat bill,” SB 8, into law. Like the other states that have passed these laws, Texas cannot actually enforce the ban under Roe, which...