The law, which only allows abortions when a mother’s life is at stake, or she faces serious physical impairment, was triggered by the Supreme Court’s entry of its final judgment striking down Roe v Wade on July 26.

Republican Texas attorney-general Ken Paxton said anyone who “knowingly” performs, induces or attempts an abortion by any means commits a first-degree felony if the fetus dies or faces a civil penalty of at least a US$100,000 and the potential loss of professional licence, if it survives. A first-degree felony is punishable by up to 99 years in jail.

Paxton noted the ban doesn’t prevent the use of oral contraceptives or birth control devices such as IUDs, which prevent a fertilised egg from implanting in the uterus. The law also doesn’t apply in cases of requiring the removal of ectopic pregnancies or the remains of miscarriages, Paxton said in an advisory issued yesterday.

Paxton encouraged local prosecutors to “immediately pursue criminal prosecutions” based on a different, nearly century-old, state abortion ban that was dormant since 1973 when the Supreme Court’s Roe decision established a federal right to abortion under the US Constitution.

Texas abortion providers have ceased offering even early-stage abortions, which were all that was allowed under a 2021 state law that authorised anyone to sue people who enabled an abortion for those pregnant for about six weeks or longer. Several clinics have announced plans to relocate to states where the procedure remains legal.