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An Oklahoma man was arrested Friday evening in connection with a threat made to Texas lawmakers who supported Texas’ new abortion law, KTVT-TV (Channel 11) reported.
Oklahoma law enforcement officials arrested Austin Wendell Lund of Sentinel, Okla., the news station reported.
Further details about what led to the arrest weren’t available Friday.
Abortions have been severely limited in Texas by the newly enacted Senate Bill 8, which outlaws abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detectable, about six weeks into a pregnancy. Senate Bill 8, the so-called “heartbeat bill” that passed this spring, also applies to drug-induced abortion.
Wednesday that the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed that a credible threat was made to lawmakers in the state Legislature.
DPS declined to provide details earlier in the week, saying it does “not discuss details of ongoing threats and investigations.”
Rep. Mayes Middleton’s office confirmed that DPS had reached out to the Wallisville Republican on Tuesday.
In an email to lawmakers Tuesday, Kevin Cooper, the Department of Public Safety’s chief of government relations, said the agency had received “a CREDIBLE THREAT TO YOUR SAFETY from the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a majority of you in the Texas Legislature.”
Middleton’s legislative director, Andrew Herrell, said earlier this week that the threat had been made against every member of the Legislature who voted for the Texas Heartbeat Act, Senate Bill 8. The legislation, which went into effect on Sept. 1 and carries the threat of lawsuits against people who “aid or abet,” abortions.
There were 83 members who voted for the bill during the regular session, with one Democrat joining 82 Republicans in voting for it.
Threats against lawmakers for their political stances are not uncommon in the Texas Legislature.
Although the new law prohibits people from seeking an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, they don’t have that whole period to make a decision and make arrangements for getting an abortion because it’s unlikely, and in many cases impossible, to detect and confirm a pregnancy before that time.
Another bill recently signed into law, Senate Bill 4, increases liability with criminal penalties. Under SB 4, the charges for “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly,” violating the provisions of the bill would be a state jail felony, which carries fines of up to $10,000 and between 180 days and two years of imprisonment.
It goes into effect in December.
A bill was filed this week by Republican Rep. Lyle Larson to add an exemption the “Heartbeat Act” for rape and incest survivors.
The current special session in Austin does not include addressing the new abortion law, but Larson asked Gov. Greg Abbott to add it to the agenda.
Larson noted his pro-life voting record over the last six legislative sessions and said the lack of the exemption in SB 8 has “weighed heavily on me since the bill’s passage.”