An extremely strict law in the state of Texas prohibits almost all abortions. The US Supreme Court has rejected an urgent application. The consequences could be severe.
It is considered to be the most restrictive abortion law in the United States: An extremely strict provision has been in force in the state of Texas since Wednesday that makes legal abortions almost impossible. The US Supreme Court rejected an urgent motion by several human rights groups to block the new regulation on Wednesday evening (local time) with five to four votes. However, the Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of the law. It can be challenged in other ways.
Opponents of abortion: inside celebrate the quasi-ban as “historic” and “hopeful”, while US President Joe Biden attacked it as “extreme” and a “blatant” violation of the fundamental right of women to abortion. The civil rights group ACLU fears “immediate, devastating effects”.
What makes the law so extraordinary? Six questions and answers:
1. What does the Abortion Act prohibit and what does not?
The law prohibits abortions as soon as the rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart tissue can be determined. It is therefore also called “Heartbeat Law”. A fetus can have a measurable heartbeat as early as the sixth week of pregnancy, at which point many women do not even know that they are pregnant. According to the ACLU, about 85 to 90 percent of abortion women in Texas are at least six weeks pregnant.
The law also applies to pregnancies resulting from incest or rape. There is only an exception for medical emergencies.
Before Texas, about a dozen other conservative states had already passed similar abortion laws. However, they were all cashed by the courts because they contradicted a fundamental decision of the Supreme Court in 1973. In the Roe v. Wade, the constitutional judges had legalized abortions up to the sixth month of pregnancy.
2. What makes Texas law so unusual?
It stands out from other restrictive abortion laws because it is not intended to be enforced by the authorities, but by the citizens – this makes it more difficult to challenge the law in court. Private individuals are encouraged to file civil lawsuits against abortion providers or others who “support or encourage” illegal abortion, but not against the abortionist themselves. Texas Right to Life has already set up a website where people can provide anonymous references to people that they believe are against the law.
This could, for example, affect doctors and nursing staff, but also, for example, parents who provide their child with money for an abortion or someone who drives a person affected to an abortion clinic. Plaintiffs, if convicted, will receive at least $ 10,000 payable by the convict. Women’s rights organizations therefore fear a downright hunt down anyone who supports pregnant women with abortions.
3. What can women expect now in Texas who want an abortion?
Abortion clinics in Texas will remain open but are adapting to the new law,. “We offer ultrasound examinations to women […] If there is no fetal heart activity, we can prepare them for an abortion, “said the broadcaster Amy Hagstrom Miller, executive director of Whole Women’s Health, which operates four clinics in Texas. All 24 health centers of the non-profit organization Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas remain According to the report, they are also open and offer counseling and other services, including abortions in accordance with the law.
Texas has nearly 14 million women who are now deprived of expensive and time-consuming ways to get treatment, said the Center for Reproductive Rights, which leads the challenge to Texas law. “Patients will have to travel out of state – in the midst of a pandemic – to receive constitutionally guaranteed health care,” said the center’s executive director Nancy Northup, according to ABC. “And many will not have the means to do this. It is cruel, ruthless and illegal.”
Dr. Bhavik Kumar said, a family doctor who works for Planned Parenthood in Houston: “I know there are many people who do not have the opportunity to have an abortion outside of the state. […] So I’m really worried about what’s going to happen to people “,.
According to ABC, several Texan clinics reported full waiting rooms by the midnight deadline. “Our clinic staff treated patients until 11:56 pm last night, just 3 minutes before the Texas 6-week abortion ban went into effect,” Whole Women’s Health wrote on Twitter.
4. What happens when women do not have access to abortions?
According to data collected, women who carry an unwanted pregnancy to term are often confronted with long-term physical and psychological complications, ABC reports. According to a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research last year, patients who are denied an abortion will also face a “large and sustained increase” in financial distress in the following years.
Reviewing credit reports, the researchers found that denying an abortion increased the incidence of debts that are 30 days or more overdue by 78 percent and the number of negative public records such as bankruptcies and evictions by 81 percent. Most serious, according to the data, is the economic impact on women who have been forced to have a child when they are unwilling to do so.
5. What are the possible implications for abortion laws in other states?
If the federal courts ultimately allow the law in Texas, it is very likely that other Conservative states will pass similar laws. Texas Right to Life has already announced, according to NPR, that the organization is working with activists in several states who want to emulate the model if it is successful.
According to ABC, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Mississippi state appeal against lower-level decisions in October. These had overturned the Mississippi Republican government’s ban on all abortions, with the exception of medical emergencies or serious fetal abnormalities, after the 15th week of pregnancy. The case is considered fateful for the landmark judgment from Roe v. Wade looked at.
6. What’s next?
According to NPR, the “Heartbeat Law” in Texas is currently being contested several times, including in lawsuits before several Texas state courts directed against opponents of abortion such as Texas Right to Life. In addition, abortion rights groups and organizations organize protests and demonstrations in Texas against the law.
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