‘Trigger laws’: What it means for Texas abortions if Roe v. Wade struck
On Monday night, Politico dropped a bombshell report detailing a draft opinion Justice Samuel Alito saying the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade — a monumental court decision for abortion rights and women’s health care. But if it is overturned, what does this mean for Texas, a state that is already teetering on a post-Roe reality with Senate Bill 8 in place?
If Roe is overturned, district attorneys in Texas will have the power to decide whether or not to pursue criminal charges against a person who underwent an abortion, the Texas Tribune reported late last month.
We have seen this power in action recently in Starr County and the case of Lizelle Herrera, who was charged by a grand jury with murder for a “self-induced” abortion. Those charges were eventually dropped in April, when Starr County District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez wrote that Herrera should not be prosecuted.
But still, many abortion rights activists are worried that there could be more cases like Herrera’s in the future if Roe is struck down.
“That type of criminalization, usually ends up falling on and poor folks — Brown and Black folks,” says board director for Frontera Fund Alexis Bay. “We saw this in the case in Starr County, affecting people in rural communities in Texas.”
There are also states with “trigger laws,” which make it a felony to “knowingly perform, induce or attempt an abortion” unless it was done to save a person’s life, and Texas has a trigger law in place, the Washington Post reported last year.
In Texas, the “trigger law” was created before Roe but overturning means prosecutors could choose to fire off this law, further endangering women who would seek abortions by other means.
It should be noted that abortions, even in Texas (before six weeks) are still currently legal.
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