A sweeping Texas bill that would have enabled $100,000 lawsuits against anyone providing abortion pills failed to advance after intense public scrutiny and despite heavy lobbying from antiabortion groups and backing from top Republican leaders.
“The antiabortion movement knows if they want to stop abortion in the future, they have to stop pills, but historically, that’s a hard thing to do,” said David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University who has helped craft state shield laws. “It’s a hard thing to do to stop a drug. That’s partly why the antiabortion movement is flailing.”