U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman wrote that Texas Republicans had “contrived an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme” with the design of “thwarting judicial review for as long as possible”
Photo: Getty Images A little over one month since the near-total abortion ban went into effect in Texas, a federal judge has blocked the enforcement of the law known as S.B. 8, which bars women from access to an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
The debate over the law has focused largely on its “vigilante” enforcement structure, which allows private citizens to sue anyone who conducts an abortion after six weeks, recovering legal fees and $10,000 in “damages” if they win the suit. The bizarre mechanism circumvents the usual legal avenues to overturn severe abortion restrictions, as Vox’s Ian Millhiser explains:
Part of what makes SB 8 such a bizarre law is that it does not permit any state official to enforce it. Rather, the statute provides that it “shall be enforced exclusively through … private civil actions.”
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