Texas Republicans pushed through two sweeping measures Thursday—one targeting transgender people with a “bathroom bill,” the other aimed at cutting off access to mail-order abortion pills—cementing the state’s role as a testing ground for the right’s most extreme culture-war laws.

The anti-trans measure, Senate Bill 8, forces people in government-owned buildings and public schools and universities to use facilities that match the sex on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity. It permits single-occupancy, gender-neutral bathrooms but carries stiff penalties: $5,000 fines for first offenses, up to $25,000 for repeat violations, and the threat of investigations launched by the attorney general based on citizen complaints.

State Republicans sold the bill as a way to protec

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