1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Texas Heartbeat Act (S.B. 8) Litigation: Supreme Court Identifies Narrow Path for Challenges to Texas Abortion Law December 13, 2021 On December 10, 2021, the Supreme Court issued decisions in United Stat
2、es v. Texas and Whole Womans Health v. Jackson. Both cases involved challenges to the Texas Heartbeat Act, also known as S.B. 8, a Texas state law that allows private citizens to sue healthcare providers and others who perform or abet abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. The plaintiffs in
3、both cases claim that S.B. 8 is unconstitutional under Supreme Court abortion precedents such as Roe v. Wade. The questions before the Court in Texas and Whole Womans Health were whether the plaintiffs could challenge S.B. 8 before it was enforced against them and, if so, who the defendants should b
4、e. In its December 10 decision in Whole Womans Health, the Court held that a constitutional challenge could proceed against certain Texas medical licensing officials, but not against Texas court officials, the state attorney general, or a private defendant. The Court dismissed United States v. Texas
