061 | Uber drivers get fined for reporting abortions? A week on the Texas abortion bill

Author: TUTU (freelance writer based in the United States)
(Original post on September 10, 2021)

"A society that has not been exposed to the whistle-blowing and whistle-blowing culture at all may have changed dramatically because of this bill."

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, scattered across the state, has suspended appointments in the week since Texas' abortion-restricting law went into effect.

"Starting September 1, the new bill limits our ability to terminate a pregnancy," Planned Parenthood in Austin, Texas, wrote on its appointment page.

"The new law restricts us from terminating pregnancies beyond six weeks." Planned Parenthood Service Center in Houston, Texas.

"Because the new law is in effect, we are currently unable to provide termination services," said Planned Parenthood in Brownsville, Texas.

Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit organization that operates more than 650 clinics in the United States, including 41 in Texas. It not only performs abortions, but also provides services such as contraception, STD screening, pregnancy counseling, and sex education. Its prototype was the first contraceptive clinic in the United States, which was born in 1916, and has since grown. In more than 100 years of history, although its existence is full of controversy, protests and even violence, it has always played a role in changing and advancing American reproductive rights legislation. And now, it may become the object of legal punishment.

A volunteer who has worked at the facility since 2018 recalls that Texas has always been one of the strictest states on abortion, having halved the number of abortion clinics in 2013 by passing a bill restricting the facilities and accreditation of doctors. The Trump administration has since slashed federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which at one point could not even take care of front desks and telephone operators, and had to rely on a large number of volunteers to maintain daily operations.

Texas society is generally conservative and has a strong religious atmosphere. Before the law came into effect, many religious people who opposed contraception and abortion had demonstrated in front of the federation from time to time.

Many teenage girls who came to the federation for help were "unexpectedly pregnant and dared not tell their family members," "some were even forced to have sex," and some were suffering from sexually transmitted diseases and dared not seek medical advice. When we were there, the condition was very serious." Protesters often lingered at the entrance of the federation, and she had to pass through "executioners", "murderers", "people who violated God" and high-pitched prayers when she went to work and after get off work. It is also necessary to accompany and protect the seeker from time to time when entering or leaving the institutional building. "It's even more absurd that I now have the potential to be a defendant in court."

Read the Texas Abortion Restriction Act, which does not directly punish abortionists, but the people and institutions that perform and participate in abortions. That is, people who advise pregnant women on abortion, people who pay for abortions, taxi drivers who take pregnant women to abortions, doctors who perform abortions on pregnant women, and even abortion agencies and their employees may face the law. risk.

Roe v. Wade in 1973 was an important precedent for women's reproductive rights in the United States, marking the recognition of women's right to abortion by the Supreme Court of the United States. Legislators in Texas slyly avoided challenging the Constitution, but instead came up with a "magic trick" - subordinate law enforcement power and let the people supervise the people.

The Texas bill encourages people to report perpetrators, facilitators and "initiators" of abortion. It does not designate the Texas government to inspect and enforce the law, which means that it is not unconstitutional; it authorizes citizens or organizations to sue those who perform or assist abortion in a civil lawsuit, supplemented by cash support, and as long as the lawsuit is successful, the lawyer can be recovered. fee, and received a guaranteed bonus of $10,000 from the defendant, with no ceiling.

Anyone in or out of Texas who has no affiliation with the pregnant woman or the clinic can sue. The bill states that plaintiffs do not need to prove that they are a related party or an aggrieved party.

Before that, there were only a handful of bills in the U.S. authorizing citizens to report. For example, the Clean Air Act allows citizens to report government abuses and fraud. But it is the first time that Texas has prevented other citizens from exercising rights recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court by whistleblowing.

It has the potential to lead to indiscriminate prosecutions and overwhelm abortion clinics and staff. Not to mention the cost of litigation, even if doctors go to practice in other states, they have to disclose the lawsuits they have received when applying for licenses, which is troublesome.

The new Texas law stipulates that the abortion time limit is six weeks. Once the fetal heartbeat can be monitored, even if the fetus is forced to have sex or the fetus is not healthy, an abortion will not be allowed. Many women had to turn to other states. The Associated Press reported that calls to an abortion clinic in nearby Oklahoma tripled after the law took effect, with two-thirds of them from Texas. Another clinic in neighboring Arkansas, Texas, saw a 40 percent increase in patients.

Some conservative groups in Texas have launched whistleblower hotlines and whistleblower websites to encourage people to whistle-blower. "A lot of people are worried that if I can't get an abortion in six weeks, I might not be able to get an abortion." Anna Rupani, co-director of Fund Texas Choice, told the media that the most vulnerable are teenage girls who have unwanted pregnancies and Vulnerable groups such as working women, they have no money or vacations to travel across states, many of them do not have medical insurance, or have medical insurance and cannot use it outside the state. The nonprofit, formerly known as Fund Texas Women, began funding abortion travel for Texas women in 2013.

After the bill was passed, the number of women who came for help tripled. Rupani and colleagues are intensively reading the legal material, "Fund Texas Choice will continue to serve pregnant women seeking abortion-related services and information, and to comply with the law to the extent we understand it," they wrote on their front page. Rupani said they will set aside a portion of the funds to prepare for possible future lawsuits.

On September 3, the Texas Abortion Restriction Act passed the hurdle of the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized the validity of the bill and evaluated the bill as "complex and novel." Conservative states are starting to follow suit. Representatives from at least six states, including Arkansas, North Dakota, and Mississippi, have successively stated that they should refer to the Texas model for legislation to break the situation that abortion legislation has been frustrated year after year.

“A bill that encourages civilian censorship would open the door to other lynchings. Texas encourages reporting abortions, counties that don’t sell alcohol can encourage people to report alcohol possession to each other, and states with strict gun control can encourage People tell each other about possession of guns and buy guns... A society that has never been exposed to the culture of whistle-blowing and whistle-blowing may have undergone tremendous changes because of this bill.” said the above-mentioned volunteer of the Planned Parenthood Federation. She was concerned about legal risks and declined to be named. "Fear is contagious."

For now, the U.S. Department of Justice says it will protect abortion seekers from threats or interference under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The bill prohibits anyone from obstructing and intimidating pregnant women and health care workers entering and leaving abortion clinics, and it also protects abortion clinics and other reproductive health centers from sabotage.

But only after the first and second cases came out, people knew how powerful the abortion-restricting bill was.

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