There is no death penalty for abortion in Texas. Performing an abortion is a first-degree felony punishable by 5 to 99 years or life in prison, plus a civil penalty of at least $100,000 per violation and loss of the provider’s medical license. A specific provision in the Texas Penal Code blocks the homicide chapter from applying to abortion, which is what keeps capital punishment legally off the table. Several bills have tried to change that. None have passed.
The Punishment Texas Actually Imposes
The Texas Human Life Protection Act, Chapter 170A of the Health and Safety Code, took effect on August 25, 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.1Supreme Court of the United States. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization It makes performing, inducing, or attempting an abortion a first-degree felony except within narrow medical exceptions for a life-threatening condition, an ectopic pregnancy, or previable premature rupture of membranes.2State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 170A – Performance of Abortion
Under Texas sentencing law, a first-degree felony carries imprisonment for life or any term between 5 and 99 years, plus a possible criminal fine of up to $10,000.3State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Chapter 12 – Punishments That is the same sentencing tier as murder, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated sexual assault. It is not, however, the capital murder tier, which is the only tier in Texas that allows a death sentence.
The criminal penalty is only one layer. Chapter 170A also imposes a civil penalty of no less than $100,000 for each violation, and it requires the Texas Medical Board or other relevant licensing agency to revoke the provider’s professional license.2State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 170A – Performance of Abortion These penalties stack per procedure. A provider involved in multiple abortions faces separate counts and separate civil fines for each one.
Why Capital Punishment Does Not Reach Abortion
The reason prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty is a single statute. Texas Penal Code Section 19.06 states that the criminal homicide chapter does not apply to the death of an unborn child when the conduct involves:
- Conduct committed by the mother of the unborn child
- A lawful medical procedure performed by a licensed health care provider with consent, where the death of the unborn child was the intended result
- An assisted reproduction procedure
- The dispensing or administration of a drug in accordance with law
Capital murder in Texas is punishable by life without parole or death when the state seeks it.3State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Chapter 12 – Punishments But capital murder lives inside the homicide chapter, and Section 19.06 keeps that entire chapter from applying to abortion. The Texas Penal Code does define “individual” to include an unborn child at every stage of gestation, but Section 19.06 overrides that definition for homicide purposes. Without repealing or amending Section 19.06, a death sentence for abortion is not legally available in Texas, regardless of the facts of a given case.
Bills That Have Tried to Change This
Some Texas legislators have tried to tear down the Section 19.06 wall. House Bill 2709, filed during the 88th Legislative Session in 2023, would have rewritten the Penal Code’s definition of “individual” to cover an unborn child “at every stage of development from fertilization until birth” and required all Penal Code provisions to “apply equally” to offenses against an unborn child.5Texas Legislature Online. Texas HB 2709 – Relating to the Protection of an Unborn Child’s Rights Had it passed, it would have effectively erased the homicide exemption and opened the door to capital murder charges against abortion providers.
HB 2709 was referred to the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on March 13, 2023, and died there without a vote when the session ended on May 29, 2023. Earlier efforts, including House Bill 810, followed the same path in other sessions: referral to committee, stall, no floor vote. Even among legislators who support the existing abortion ban, capital punishment for the procedure has not drawn enough support to move.
These bills rest on an equal-protection theory: if an unborn child is a person, killing that person should carry the same penalties as any other homicide. Critics argue that applying homicide law to medical procedures would spill into miscarriage investigations and fertility treatment. Whichever side a reader lands on, the practical point for Texas today is that no such bill has become law.
The Pregnant Person Cannot Be Prosecuted
People searching this question often want to know whether a patient can face charges, not just a provider. Texas law says no. Section 170A.003 of the Health and Safety Code states that nothing in the chapter authorizes criminal prosecution of, or the imposition of a penalty on, the pregnant person on whom the abortion is performed.2State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 170A – Performance of Abortion The protection is unconditional. It does not depend on the provider’s conviction or on what the patient knew.
Section 19.06 reinforces this from the homicide side. Its first listed exemption is “conduct committed by the mother of the unborn child,” which means the homicide chapter cannot reach the pregnant person under any theory.4State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 19.06 – Applicability to Certain Conduct Even the proposed bills that would reclassify abortion as capital murder have not sought to strip this maternal immunity. Enforcement is aimed at providers, not patients.
Private Civil Lawsuits Are a Separate Layer
Criminal prosecution is not the only legal exposure in Texas. Senate Bill 8, the Texas Heartbeat Act, allows any private citizen to sue a person who performs an abortion or who aids or abets one. A successful plaintiff receives at least $10,000 in statutory damages per violation, plus attorney’s fees and costs.6Texas Legislature Online. Texas SB 8 – Relating to Abortion
SB 8 is enforced entirely through private lawsuits rather than government prosecution. Anyone can sue, regardless of any personal connection to the abortion, and the law reaches people who help pay for a procedure, drive a patient to a clinic, or provide logistical support. The pregnant person is exempt, consistent with the criminal immunity above. SB 8 does not create any form of capital punishment or imprisonment; it is purely a money judgment. But it adds a financial layer on top of the first-degree felony exposure and the $100,000-per-violation civil penalty under Chapter 170A.
Put together, Texas law punishes abortion with some of the harshest penalties short of capital punishment that any state imposes. The death penalty is not among them, and under current statute it cannot be.