In a move that surprised no one, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed HB 7 into law, allowing private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes or mails abortion medication to Texas residents. But this law is more than just another restriction—it signals that Texas isn’t content to enforce its near-total abortion ban within state lines. With HB 7, the state is now targeting out-of-state actors, making clear that antiabortion lawmakers are determined to export their bans beyond Texas and reshape abortion access nationwide.
This tactic exposes the lie at the heart of the “states’ rights” argument that fueled the fight to overturn Roe v. Wade. The goal was never to return abortion policy to individual states; it was always to prevent access wherever abortion is legal. Post-Dobbs, patients have continued to travel or use telehealth to obtain care, and states like Texas are responding with aggressive measures—state “trafficking” laws and multi-state lawsuits—to block access across borders. HB 7 is just the latest example of how far antiabortion states will go to control abortion nationally.
