portland city council is preparing to ban all official staff travel in texas and trade restrictions as it protests the 'unconstitutional' new abortion law

Portland city council is preparing to vote on an emergency resolution this week which will restrict goods, services and official travel to Texas in protest at the state's the new abortion law.

Texas' SB-8 law, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, is the strictest abortion law in the country, and bans women from having abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is usually around six weeks - before many women become aware of their pregnancy. 

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler says the City Council will hold a vote on the resolution on Wednesday, with the intent to ban Portland's 'future procurement of goods and services from, and City employee business travel to, the state of Texas.' 

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler says the City Council will hold a vote on the resolution on Wednesday, with the intent to ban Portland's 'future procurement of goods and services from, and City employee business travel to, the state of Texas.'

A group of people are gathered at the Times Square of New York City, United States on September 4, 2021 to protest that a Texas law banned abortion

Wheeler said that the City Council 'stands unified in its belief that all people should have the right to choose if and when they carry a pregnancy.'

'The ban will be in effect until the state of Texas withdraws its unconstitutional ban on abortion or until it is overturned in court. City legal counsel is currently evaluating the legal aspects of this proposed resolution,' Wheeler added .

The new Texas law backpedals on the landmark Roe v. Wade law of 1973, which gave women across the country the right to choose to have an abortion.   

The act bans women from getting abortions from when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, and does not make exceptions for women who are victims of rape or incest, with the only exception being to save the life of the mother. 

Unusually, the law is not enforced by police, but by private citizens. 

Any individual can now sue a person suspected of aiding in an abortion in the state, even if it is a case or rape or incest.

Pro-life protesters stand near the gate of the Texas state capitol at a protest outside the Texas state capitol on May 29, 2021 in Austin, Texas

The new order blocks the anti-abortion group from bringing lawsuits against providers and staff at Planned Parenthood centers across the state under the 'Texas Heartbeat Act', which came into effect Wednesday

They could be awarded a minimum of $10,000 if they were to win the case, which will have to be paid for by the abortion provider. 

On Friday, abortion providers and pro-choice supporters secured a minor victory in Texas after State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin granted Planned Parenthood a temporary restraining order against Texas Right to Life, its legislative director and 100 unidentified associates late Friday.

The order blocks the anti-abortion group from bringing lawsuits against providers and staff at Planned Parenthood centers across the state under the 'Texas Heartbeat Act', which came into effect Wednesday.   

Helene Krasnoff, vice president for public policy litigation and law, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the group was 'relieved' but said 'this is not enough relief for Texas'. 

'Planned Parenthood will continue fighting for the millions of Texans affected by S.B. 8., doing everything we can under the law to restore Texans' federal constitutional right to access abortion,' she said in a statement.   

Mayor Wheeler said the new law 'violates the separation of church and state' and believes 'it will force people to carry pregnancies against their will.'

'We stand with Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Stephen Breyer, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who fought to block this attack on the reproductive rights, freedom, and autonomy of people across the country,' the mayor's statement continued. 

'We urge other leaders and elected bodies around the nation to join us in condemning the actions of the Texas state government. Portland City Council stands with the people who may one day face difficult decisions about pregnancy, and we respect their right to make the best decision for themselves.'

A Planned Parenthood worker in Texas has told how 70 percent of women seeking abortions have had to be turned away since the state's strict new 'heartbeat' law came into effect on Wednesday. 

Texas' SB-8, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, is the strictest abortion law in the country, and bans women from having abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is usually around six weeks - before many women become aware of their pregnancy. 

Clinic worker Doris Dixon told how one Houston woman who found out she was five-and-a-half weeks pregnant - within the time limit - also tested positive for COVID-19 and will be banned from having her requested abortion when she ends her quarantine. 

Dixon, who has worked for 13 years at the Planned Parenthood where the unnamed woman was seen, said she felt she failed the women who went to her clinic and had to be turned away since the new abortion ban went into effect on September 1. 

'To hear her beg for someone to help her was hard, she was begging,' 

'For me, I was trying very hard not to cry but the tears were coming down, they were there,' Dixon told ABC News.  

At least 85% of Texans seeking abortion are six weeks pregnant or more, according to Planned Parenthood.  

Doris Dixon has worked at a Planned Parenthood for 13 years. At the clinic she works at, in Houston, 70percent of abortion had been denied since the Texas Heartbeat act went into effect on Wednesday 

Dixon said that the unnamed woman had simply gone to the clinic for a check up, but she found out she was not only pregnant but also infected with COVID-19.

While she was still eligible for an abortion on Wednesday, by the time her quarantine ends, she no longer will be able to have a legal abortion in the state.  

Pregnant women seeking an abortion after their sixth week will have to travel out of state to terminate their pregnancy - changing the average drive to get an abortion in Texas from 12 miles to 248 miles, according to the Guttmacher Institute. 

That is, if they have the financial support to do so. 

'I feel like I take it personally. I have failed in my goal to help people,' Dixon added.