101 Texas Lawmakers Who Supported/Voted For New Abortion Law Being Threatened

AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM) — CBS 11 has learned that 101 members of the Texas House and Senate who voted for the controversial Fetal Heartbeat bill that went into effect September 1, have been warned about a threat made against them.

The threat, confirmed by a Republican member of the House, was flagged by the FBI and deemed credible by the agency.

The lawmaker told CBS 11 Political Reporter Jack Fink the threat was included in a post on the social media site Reddit by a man in Oklahoma who mentioned the legislators’ “corpses”.

The post has since been removed. Lawmakers’ votes on bills are public information.

While legislators have received threats from time to time on an individual basis, a source tells CBS 11 that what makes this threat different is that it was made against 101 lawmakers.

The FBI notified the Texas Department of Public Safety Tuesday about the threat, which in turned called lawmakers to warn them.

If the lawmakers didn’t answer their phones, DPS emailed them.

Texas DPS declined comment on the matter but issued a statement:  “The Texas Department of Public Safety takes all matters of personal security and public safety very seriously and we do not discuss details of ongoing threats and investigations.”

We reached out to the FBI seeking comment and are awaiting a response.

The Fetal Heartbeat Bill, SB 8, has made national headlines this month after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene and block it before it went into effect.

Under the law, once a fetal heartbeat is detected, doctors can’t perform an abortion.

A fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks when many women don’t know they’re pregnant.

Under the law, government entities can’t enforce it, but private citizens can by filing civil lawsuits against doctors and others, and could be fined $10,000 per procedure.

The Biden administration is challenging the law in federal court in Austin, where a hearing is set for October 1.

Various other legal challenges related to the law have also been made in a variety of state and federal courts.

We’ll have more information on this breaking story on CBS 11 News at 4PM. 

from CBS Dallas / Fort Worth https://ift.tt/3ELkpkQ