Texas abortion ban excites American "Taliban"

Today could mark the beginning of the end for abortions in much of the United States. This is horrible news for the majority of Americans who support a woman's right to choose. 

But the fervent anti-abortion minority are rejoicing in a Texas law going into effect which effectively bans abortions, since the law forbids the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, which is before most women even know they're pregnant.

Providers said the ban — which relies on private citizens to sue people who help women get forbidden abortions — effectively eliminates the guarantee in Roe v. Wade and subsequent Supreme Court decisions that women have a right to end their pregnancies before viability, and that states may not impose undue burdens on that decision.

On a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court has refused to issue an injunction against the Texas law, which is clearly unconstitutional.

Thus it only seems to be a matter of time before states are allowed to return to the dark ages before the Court ruled in favor of a woman's right to choose an abortion.

Those of us old enough to remember what things were like before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision are horrified at the prospect of women either having to travel to a state or country where abortion remains legal -- like here in Oregon -- or engaging in dangerous attempts to end their pregnancy. 

In the years leading up to Roe, more than 1 million women each year, facing the crisis of an unwanted and unplanned pregnancy, found it necessary to resort to illegal abortions. The vast majority of these women turned either to dangerous self-induced abortions or to the dark and often forbidding underworld of “back-alley” abortions.

Women who resorted to self-induced abortions typically relied on such methods as throwing themselves down a flight of stairs or ingesting, douching with, or inserting into themselves a chilling variety of chemicals and toxins ranging from bleach to potassium permanganate to turpentine to gunpowder to whiskey. Knitting needles, crochet hooks, scissors, and coat hangers were among the tools commonly used by women who attempted to self-abort. Approximately 30 percent of all illegal abortions in the 1960s were self-induced.

Women who sought abortions from “back-alley” abortionists encountered similar horrors. To find someone to perform an illegal abortion, women often had to rely on tips from elevator operators, taxi cab drivers, salesmen, and the like. Because of the clandestine nature of illegal abortions, the very process of finding someone to perform an abortion was often dangerous and terrifying.

Women who sought “back-alley” abortions were often blindfolded, driven to remote areas, and passed off to people they did not know and could not even see during the entire process. Such abortions were performed not only in secret offices and hotel rooms, but also in bathrooms, in the backseats of cars, and literally in back alleys.

But this is what our American "Taliban" want to inflict on women.

They're not always religious fundamentalists, but the most avid anti-abortion zealots are. Just like the Taliban in Afghanistan, they want to impose their rigid dogmatism on any woman who wants an abortion, even those pregnant because of rape or incest.

An opinion piece in today's Arizona Republic newspaper has the title, "Texas goes Taliban on abortion rights. Is Arizona next?"

I’m puzzled by Republicans who have been clamoring with supposed concern and disgust over the past couple of weeks about the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and what that would mean for the people of that country.

Particularly now, since the state of Texas has decided to go Taliban on women when it comes to reproductive rights and the U.S. Supreme Court has chosen not to intervene.

It seems like the Republicans who control the Texas legislature, and the conservatives who now dominate the court, are less inclined to go along with the protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution than by the restrictions imposed by Islam’s Sharia law.

And Arizona is right behind them.

What makes the Texas law especially Taliban'ish is how it relies on citizens to enforce the law, not government. If someone learns of an abortion before six weeks of pregnancy, they get a $10,000 bounty from an abortion provider or anyone else who helps a woman get an abortion. 

Individuals who are sued under the ban could be required to pay the person who brought the lawsuit at least $10,000 for each abortion the defendant was involved in. Critics say the law places a “bounty” on the heads of those who assist with abortions.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who chairs the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, urged the Senate to “act legislatively to protect the legal right to abortion for every American, regardless of where they live.”

“If you disagree with the idea that a complete stranger could, legally, demand $10,000 from you just because they disagree with your personal decisions, you should find this Texas anti-abortion ban as much of a nightmare as I do,” she said in a statement.

In Afghanistan the Taliban have whipped women who violate some absurd tenet of Shariah law, like not completely covering their body with a burka. The Texas law allows an equally odious form of legal whipping where anyone can butt into a woman's personal life by filing a suit against those who help a woman obtain an abortion, such as an Uber driver or friend.

The best way to stop Republicans from continuing their all-out war against a woman's right to choose would be for Congress to pass legislation guaranteeing that right. That almost certainly would require doing away with the Senate filibuster. Since this looks unlikely, those who support the right to an abortion are fighting an uphill battle in both Congress and the states controlled by Republicans.

The fight needs to be waged, though. The filibuster could be eliminated, and if enough voters kick Republicans out of office in the next elections, a woman's right to choose could remain in many, if not most, states. Hey, I can dream. 

Comments

[Jim Scheppke]

If people think we are immune from "American Taliban" think again. We almost had an AT takeover of our school board last May. Our Marion County Commissioners, at least two of them, could be classified as AT. Colm Willis is the former Political Director of Oregon Right to Life. In his successful run for County Commissioner in 2018 he received 45% of his campaign funding from ORTL. He has to run for reelection next year and we can expect the same. He believes everyone should have the "right to choose" whether to be vaccinated and wear a mask to prevent COVID spread, but that women should not have reproductive rights. That's total hypocrisy.

[Jack Holloway]

Texas SB8, Sec. 171.208 – authorizes mindreading by members of the general public

Sec. 171.208. CIVIL LIABILITY FOR VIOLATION OR AIDING OR
ABETTING VIOLATION. (a) Any person, other than an officer or
employee of a state or local governmental entity in this state, may
bring a civil action against any person who:

(1) performs or induces an abortion in violation of
this chapter;

(2) knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets
the performance or inducement of an abortion, including paying for
or reimbursing the costs of an abortion through insurance or
otherwise, if the abortion is performed or induced in violation of
this chapter, regardless of whether the person knew or should have
known that the abortion would be performed or induced in violation
of this chapter; or

(3) intends to engage in the conduct described by
Subdivision (1) or (2). -- ( !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

//

Swarms of self-righteous Texas busybodies will now be invading the privacy of their neighbors, and getting paid to do it.

If you think that one of Texas' Republican legislators is thinking about advising or assisting a relative or neighbor to get an abortion, be sure to file a lawsuit against that legislator and collect your $10,000.

[Rand]

It would be clear that women have the right to choose right up to delivery day if there was not another life involved.

But there is another life involved.

What if our mothers decided to abort us?

Our opportunity to live would have been terminated.

This discussion between us would never occur.

We never would have lived.

Do the unborn have a right to life, to choose to live or not, or to have that choice made for them?

[Kurt]

The discussion about when life begins could continue ad infinitum. There is nearly universal agreement that abortion is wrong at a certain point of development. The assertion that what some call a heartbeat at about 6 weeks is simply a common activity of a group of cells that are in the process of becoming a heart does not even need to be considered.
The problem here is that the Supreme Court, which is the highest court in the land, has ceded its authority as the body that provides judicial review [which means that they decide what is constitutional and what is not (Marbury v Madison)].
The consequences of allowing the incongruity between Roe and the Texas legislature's action is clear.
Once precedent becomes selectively irrelevant, the rule of law withers away.

[Carole]

Maybe all unwanted babies in Texas should be forced to be raised by their fathers. Maybe then men would stop fighting abortion if they had to deal with the baby for the rest of their lives like they are forcing women to do. Even from rape and incest. Shame on those folks. Shame. Now we have a Supreme Court who won’t defend our constitution. Shame. We have a Congress who will not uphold our constitution by protecting a woman’s right to choose by either reducing or expanding the Supreme Court to get rid of beer-boy or Weird Jesus girl. Shame.

Just three more reasons to vote against republican taliban in 2022.