In 2021, the Texas Legislature passed a bill outlawing abortion that would only become law once a certain event happened, like the overturning of Roe v. Wade. This is often referred to as Texas’s "trigger law."

The judgment in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in July of 2022 triggered the Texas law to go into effect thirty days later.

House Bill 1280 and its "trigger"

House Bill 1280 created Chapter 170A of the Texas Health & Safety Code. According to Section 3 of the bill, Chapter 170A would go into effect 30 days after federal law allowed individual states to prohibit abortions. Section 3 lists the following possibilities as triggers:

• the U.S. Supreme Court issues a judgment that overrules Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), and allows individual states to prohibit abortions; or
• the U.S. Supreme Court issues any other judgment that recognizes a state's authority to prohibit abortions; or
• an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that allows individual states to prohibit abortion is adopted.

The triggering events occurred in the summer of 2022. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on June 24th. This decision overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. According to an advisory letter from the Texas Attorney General, Chapter 170A went into effect on August 25th.

Abortions are banned, with narrow exceptions

Chapter 170A of the Texas Health & Safety Code prohibits abortions outright except in certain circumstances. This law sets out criminal, civil, and professional penalties for performing prohibited abortions.

See our FAQ Is abortion illegal in Texas? for more details.

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