On Wednesday morning (Sept. 1), Texas passed a law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, making it one of the strictest abortion laws in the country. As abortion providers requested, the Supreme Court and federal appeals court did not respond to the pending ban, which passed with zero court intervention.
A Texas law will prohibit women from seeking abortions as soon as they see a fetal heartbeat, a condition that usually takes place after around six weeks of pregnancy and even before many women are aware they are pregnant. The law does not set aside any exemptions for rape or incest, although it does provide for some exemptions in the case of a “medical emergency.”
Also under the law, users can also sue abortion providers or persons who assist women in getting abortions in violation of the ban, no matter where they live in the country. A woman might need someone to drive her to a clinic, someone to provide financial assistance, or someone to provide spiritual guidance. Citizen plaintiffs do not need to know the other person they are suing in order to file a civil suit, and if successful, they may get up to $10,000.
As a result, the anti-abortion organization Texas Right to Life has launched a “whistleblower’s” website intended to facilitate submissions of anonymous tips about other individuals violating the ban, and this was launched on Monday.
“These cases are not against women,” Texas Right to Life lawyer John Seago declared to NPR. “The suits would be brought against the individuals who profit from abortions and the abortion industry as a whole. This does not mean you should spy on your neighbor and find out if they have an abortion.”
A reproductive rights organization and abortion providers argue that the law “places a bounty on those who assist in abortions [and encourages] random strangers to persecute them.”.
The Whole Women’s Health clinic in Texas tweeted Tuesday night (August 31), two hours before the ban took effect, that it still had abortion providers and waiting rooms filled with patients and loved ones.
In an attempt to disrupt the abortion clinic, anti-abortion protestors are shining lights onto the parking lights. “We are being monitored.”
According to the ACLU, the ban went into effect on Wednesday, cutting off access to nearly all abortions for millions of people now. The effects of the ban will be immediate and devastating.
At the same time that the six-week ban is in effect, the Supreme Court is scheduled to rule on whether a Mississippi law that prohibits abortions at 15 weeks is constitutional. According to abortion rights advocacy groups, both the Mississippi and Texas laws directly conflict with Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark opinion that legalized abortion throughout the United States.
© 2021, Jonathan P-Wright. All rights reserved.
