Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images
On Sept. 1, Texas enacted one of the country’s most restrictive abortion bans, known as Senate Bill 8 or SB 8. It not only makes abortion after six weeks illegal, but also allows people to sue clinics, providers, or anyone who helps a patient seek abortion care in the state. By a vote of 5-4, the United States Supreme Court refused to block the law. To understand its scope, click along.
Number of abortion restrictions Texas has passed in the last decade. According to the Guttmacher Institute, these include punitive legal requirements, such as mandated counseling for abortion-seekers and a ban on abortion-related telehealth.
Number of “abortion deserts” in Texas, defined as areas where people have to travel over 100 miles to reach a facility for an abortion. Texas has more abortion deserts than any other U.S. state.
Women will have an abortion by age 45, based on the Guttmacher Institute’s most recent available data. They estimate between 462 and 530 trans or non-binary people obtain abortions annually.
Number of abortions performed in Texas in 2017, the most recent year with available data from the Guttmacher Institute. At the time, abortions in Texas made up about 6.4% of all U.S. abortions.
Of abortion seekers in Texas will be unable to receive care as a result of SB 8, according to an estimation from the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Policy Evaluation Project.
The amount that abortion-seekers in Texas could be forced to pay in damages, if sued. Any private citizen can sue someone who vaguely helps facilitate an abortion after the 6-week limit. Who gets the money? The person who sues.
The average distance a Texan will need to travel for an out-of-state abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. This would occur if most or all of Texas abortion clinics shut down as a result of SB 8.
The number of Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas that began turning away patients because of the law. In July, the organization joined a lawsuit to fight SB 8.
People of reproductive age in Texas who will be affected by the law.