The Supreme Court officially released its judgment in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on Tuesday, creating a clearer path for Texas’ trigger law that outlaws abortions in the state.

The trigger law was passed by the state legislature last year and goes into effect 30 days following an official judgment by the Supreme Court overruling Roe vs. Wade. While the decision was announced by the Court last month, the official judgment did not arrive until this week, starting the 30-day countdown.

The new law will outlaw abortion except in instances where the mother’s life is in danger. The law will make performing an abortion a punishable offense with penalties up to life in prison and $100,000 in fines per offense. 

Ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages are excluded from the definition of abortion in the new law and thus will not be prosecuted. 

With the news of the trigger law coming into effect, many abortion providers have stopped performing abortions or are planning on moving out of the state. 

One abortion clinic, Whole Women’s Health, announced they would be moving their clinic out of the state and moving to New Mexico. 

While some states have made their trigger laws go into effect immediately, Texas law was written for the ban to go into effect 30 days after the ruling. However, a ban on abortion passed into law before Roe vs. Wade has been in effect since the Dobbs decision was announced.

Now that the Supreme Court has made its ruling official, the trigger law will soon go into effect August 25. 

Emily Medeiros

Emily graduated from the University of Oklahoma majoring in Journalism. She is excited to use her research and writing skills to report on important issues around Texas.

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