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Texas officials on Wednesday defended the state’s strict abortion law that bars the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy and urged a federal judge to allow the measure to stand. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said the court should dismiss the Biden administration’s lawsuit seeking to block the measure that has effectively halted most abortions in the nation’s second-most-populous state. (Marimow and Barnes, 9/29)

A Texas law professor who has criticized the state’s new abortion ban warned U.S. senators on Wednesday that the danger of its rollout is far bigger than just abortion. “A world in which our constitutional rights are worth nothing more than the whims of 50 state legislatures is not a federal system,” said Steve Vladeck of the University of Texas at Austin. “It’s not a system with the rule of law. And frankly, it’s not a system that is going to be sustainable in the long term.” (Blackman, 9/29)

Three congresswomen who will testify about their personal experiences with abortion during a Thursday House hearing on reproductive rights shared their stories in a deeply personal interview Wednesday night. On MSNBC's "The ReidOut with Joy Reid," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo. and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., shared intimate accounts of their decisions to end their pregnancies. Lee said she traveled to a "back-alley clinic" in Mexico with a family friend, an experience she said "terrified" her. (Cox, 9/29)

Nearly a month after the controversial Senate Bill 8 took effect, hardly any legal vigilantes have actually gone to court. But many are waiting to pounce, among them Jeff Tuley, a semiretired owner of a tree nursery near Athens, Texas. “I’m doing it so the Lord God knows where I stand. I mean, there’s too many people that just roll over, and I’m not going to roll over,” Tuley, 64, said by phone. “I’m just one man. And I’ll do what I can do.” He’s one of three Henderson County residents pleading with a federal judge in San Antonio to keep SB 8 in effect so they can sue, if the occasion arises, anyone who aids or abets an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. The trio argue that — rather than depriving women of their rights — they and other would-be plaintiffs under SB 8 are potential victims if the U.S. Justice Department succeeds in blocking SB 8, which would deprive them and “countless others … of their state-law right to bring private civil-enforcement suits against individuals and entities that violate the Texas Heartbeat Act.” (Gillman, 9/29)

Owners of a small business in Bellaire say they are shocked and appalled at one woman's response after they publicly condemned Texas' new abortion ban. Breakfast restaurant, Dandelion Cafe, located at 5405 Bellaire Blvd., called on its followers and other local businesses to stand with them for women's rights on Instagram Monday by showing many of its employees wearing tape with hand-written messages targeting the new law that went into effect on Sept. 1. The messages read: Abortion is Healthcare, Laws off our bodies, bodily autonomy for all, and 86 the Abortion Ban. (Welch, 9/29)

According to court documents provided by the state Attorney General's office, a different Yellowstone County judge will preside over a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Montana seeking to halt the implementation of three new abortion laws in Montana after the state asked to disqualify the original judge. According to a notice of judge substitution filed in Yellowstone County District Court on Wednesday and signed by the deputy clerk of the court, District Court Judge Gregory Todd, who said last week he would decide on issuing an injunction on the laws before Friday, is off the case and was replaced by District Court Judge Rod Souza. (Michels, 9/29)