The bill would prohibit creating, editing, publishing or maintaining websites that help Texans seek abortions.
Houston-area state representative Steve Toth has introduced a bill that, if passed, would ban Internet access to websites about how to obtain an abortion or the abortion pill.
Houston Chronicle ArchivesA Texas Republican has introduced a bill that would limit access to information about how to get an abortion or abortion pills online. Dubbed the Women and Child Safety Act, the legislation would require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to “make every reasonable and technologically feasible effort to block Internet access to information or material intended to assist or facilitate efforts to achieve a elective abortion or an abortifacient.”
Should HB 2690 pass, it would also make it illegal to create, edit, publish, host, maintain or register a domain name for a website that helps people seek abortions. The law specifically singles out the websites of Aid Access, Hey Jane, Plan C, Choix, Just the Pill and Carafem. Like Senate Bill 8, it encourages individuals to sue individuals or organizations that violate the proposed law. It would also criminalize abortion fund websites that help Texans obtain abortions in other states — even though abortions are legal in those places.
Under the new law, concealing or destroying evidence of an abortion “performed or attempted” in Texas or on a Texas resident in another state would also be considered a criminal offense. The bill follows the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last summer, which triggered an abortion ban — with no exceptions for rape or incest — in Texas since August 2022. If approved, HB 2690 would take effect on September 1, 2023.
Online abortion clinic Hi Jane called the recently introduced bill a “blatant attack on freedom of speech and commerce.” The clinic has also created a medical abortion website called texansforfreespeech.com, and pledged to donate $1 to the abortion fund for every visitor to the website. “Anti-abortion politicians understand that medical abortion is now the most viable form of safe and effective abortion access, which is why they continue to attack it — and have targeted Hey Jane (which doesn’t even operate in Texas),” the clinic wrote on Twitter. “HB 2690 is the first bill of its kind, and reflects the extreme lengths that anti-abortion politicians will go to prevent even the knowledge of this safe, effective abortion treatment.”
Texas politicians have taken aim at internet companies in the past. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals recently lifted a block on Texas’ HB 20, which prohibits major social media platforms from curating content posted on their platforms or banning users based on their political views.
Toth’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment at the time of writing.
POLICY
More politics
For the latest and greatest from the Chron, sign up for our daily newsletter here.
