Texas ‘trigger bill’ would automatically outlaw abortion if Roe v. Wade overturned

Rule would also go into effect if U.S. Constitution is amended.

Published: June 18, 2021 4:35pm

Updated: June 18, 2021 5:59pm

A bill signed this week by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott would prohibit abortion in that state in the event that the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling is overturned.

The bill, HB1280, would outlaw abortion in most cases and make the commission of an abortion a felony, but only in the event of "the issuance of a United States Supreme Court judgment overruling, wholly or partly, Roe v. Wade."

The rules would also go into effect following "the issuance of any other United States Supreme Court decision" that allows states to outlaw abortion, as well as the "adoption of an amendment to the United States Constitution" that allows the same.

Roe v. Wade, decided in 1973, created a three-tier framework of abortion regulation imposed upon the states, one that allows very few prohibitions on abortion in the earliest stages of pregnancy but permits some restrictions in the final months of gestation.