(The Center Square) – New laws are now in effect designed to protect women and girls including in publicly funded spaces and throughout state code, which now defines sex-based terms. A new chemical abortion pill ban is also now effective statewide.
The Texas Women’s Privacy Act, filed by state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, state Rep. Angelia Orr, R-Itasca, and multiple cosponsors, is now in effect. It requires political subdivisions and state agencies to implement policies to ensure that private spaces they own or control are designated for use by individuals based on their biological sex. This includes publicly funded bathrooms, domestic abuse shelters, locker rooms among others.
The new law imposes a civil penalty of $25,000 for the first violation and $125,000 for the second or subsequent violations.
Abbott also signed into law Texas’ first Women’s Bill of Rights, which codifies sex-based terms.
State government code now defines “boy” as a child of the male sex; “father” as a parent of the male sex; “female” and “woman” as an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova; “girl” as a child of the female sex; “male” and “man” as an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female; “mother” as a parent of the female sex; and “sex” as an individual’s biological sex, either male or female.
It also establishes that males and females “possess unique immutable biological differences that manifest prior to birth and increase as individuals age and experience puberty; … only females are able to get pregnant, give birth, and breastfeed children …; biological differences between the sexes leave females more physically vulnerable than males to specific forms of violence, including sexual violence; females have historically suffered discrimination in education, athletics, and employment; biological differences between the sexes are enduring and may, in some circumstances, warrant the creation of separate social, educational, athletic, or other spaces in order to ensure individuals’ safety and allow members of each sex to succeed and thrive.”
The new laws follow others the legislature passed to protect women and girls. In 2023, Abbott signed the Save Women’s Sports Act into law, which prohibits biological men from competing on a team or as an individual against women in college sports, The Center Square reported.
In 2021, Abbott first signed a bill into law to protect girls’ sports in Texas public schools. In the 2017 and 2019 legislative sessions, he signed four bills into law to address student safety and adjudication processes for reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault on college campuses.
Last year, Abbott instructed Texas colleges and universities to ignore a Biden administration rewrite of Title IX that redefined “sex” to include “gender identify.” Texas also sued to stop the action and won, The Center Square reported.
Abbott also signed into law The Texas Woman and Child Protection Act, which is now in effect. Filed by state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, it creates civil penalties of up to $100,000 for producers and distributors of chemical abortion pills in Texas.
In June, on the three-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade, dozens of state lawmakers and prolife groups called on Abbott to add an abortion pill ban to the agenda for the first special legislative session. He added it but it and all bills went nowhere after House Democrats absconded, shutting down legislative business for a month.
After Democrats returned and after Abbott called a second special legislative session, it was added to that session’s agenda and passed.
Despite Texas’ legislative abortion bans, abortion medications mifepristone (Mifeprex) and Misoprostol were being delivered in Texas. Now their sale and delivery are banned and civil liability tools are available to use “against those trafficking abortion pills,” including those “mailing, delivering, or trafficking abortion pills,” according to the bill language. The new law holds liable manufacturers and distributors of abortion pills and allows women and their family members “to bring wrongful death and injury suits six years after being injured by abortion,” according to the bill analysis.
The bill was passed after concerns were raised about the alleged harm the pills cause women. Women are 10 times more likely to die from the pills than from surgical abortions, state Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, argued when advocating for the bill’s passage.
When purchasing the pills online, “without in-person medical care, follow-up care, or preventative testing … it is possible that serious health risks from the use of abortion inducing drugs may arise, including sepsis, … ectopic pregnancy, loss of fallopian tubes, hemorrhage, and death,” Leach argued. Purchasing the pills online from out-of-state providers “may lead to an increase in incidents of forced abortion, abuse, and crimes against women by abusers and human traffickers,” he warned.
The bill was also passed after a Parker County man was arrested and charged with purchasing abortion pills online and giving them to his former girlfriend without her knowledge, resulting in her unborn baby’s death, The Center Square reported.
Similar to Texas’ other abortion bans, the mother is protected from prosecution.
