Texas’ H.B. 991: An Unconscionable Attack on Abortion Rights and Free Speech

December 11, 2024

Texas’s new bill H.B. 991, known as the Women and Child Safety Act, has little to do with protecting women or children. Rather, under the guise of concern for people’s wellbeing, H.B. 911 attacks Texans’ most fundamental human rights to free speech and personal liberty, which includes the right to abortion. It is, to quote Elizabeth Nolan Brown, “bonkers.”

H.B. 991 carries serious criminal and civil provisions. It would create new felonies for payment or reimbursement of abortion costs – which would notably affect abortion funds – and “destroying evidence of an abortion.” H.B. 991 would also allow for wrongful death or personal injury claims to be filed against those who manufacture, distribute, mail, transport, or deliver abortion-inducing drugs, and mere possession of those drugs would be forbidden unless the possessor is planning to take the pills themself.

And then there are the gnarly free speech concerns. H.B. 991 would allow further civil claims against any computer services that allow Texans to access information to assist with getting an abortion. In other terms, platforms from X (formerly known as Twitter) to Substack could be sued for facilitating free speech in social media or newsletters relating to facilitating abortion access. Sure, under H.B. 991, tech companies need only block this speech for Texans – but as Brown writes, that isn’t necessarily technologically feasible, which could create dire consequences for folks across the U.S.

We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation wholeheartedly agree with Brown: H.B. 991 is a bonkers attempt to further curtail abortion rights in Texas, which are already in extremely dire jeopardy. The fact that this attempt is also aimed at suppressing free speech makes it all the more draconian. We firmly oppose H.B. 991.