A new Texas law that bans abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat has an unusual enforcement provision: Private citizens can sue abortion providers and others who knowingly help pregnant women violate the restrictions.
No state official is authorized to enforce the law, a provision that appears intended to prevent abortion providers from suing the state in federal court to block enforcement, report the New York Times and the Texas Tribune.
Under the law, abortion clinics would be lawsuit defendants in citizen lawsuits, rather than plaintiffs filing a legal challenge against the state.
While other kinds of laws authorize private citizens to sue for enforcement, such lawsuits are in addition to and in support of state enforcement.
