Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 8	Senate Author:  Hughes et al.
Effective:  9-1-21	House Sponsor:  Slawson et al.

            Senate Bill 8 enacts the Texas Heartbeat Act and amends the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Government Code, and Health and Safety Code to set out provisions relating to the performance or inducement of abortions, including provisions prohibiting abortions after the detection of an unborn child's heartbeat and provisions authorizing a private civil right of action. Among other provisions, the bill prohibits a physician from knowingly performing or inducing an abortion on a pregnant woman unless the physician has determined whether the woman's unborn child has a detectable fetal heartbeat and prohibits a physician from knowingly performing or inducing an abortion on a pregnant woman if the physician detected a fetal heartbeat for the unborn child or failed to perform a test to detect a fetal heartbeat.

Senate Bill 8 creates an exception for a medical emergency that prevents compliance with the bill's provisions relating to the detection of a fetal heartbeat with respect to an abortion and specifies that the requirements in those provisions must be enforced exclusively through the applicable private civil actions authorized by the bill. The bill provides for the following:

·        the authority of any person, other than an officer or employee of a state or local governmental entity in Texas, to bring a civil action against any person who performs or induces an abortion in violation of the Woman's Right to Know Act or knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion;

·        certain undue burden defense limitations on the civil liability of a defendant who has standing to assert the third‑party rights of a woman or group of women seeking an abortion;

·        the venue for a civil action brought under the bill's provisions, including a prohibition against the action being transferred to a different venue without the written consent of all parties;

·        sovereign, governmental, and official immunity in any action, claim, or counterclaim or any type of legal or equitable action that challenges the validity of any provision or application of applicable state law relating to abortion;

·        an award of attorney's fees in actions challenging abortion laws; and

·        the construction and severability of statutes that regulate or prohibit abortion.