The outcome of the Texas Supreme Court’s recent ruling that put a stop to an ACLU challenge of Senate Bill 8, the so-called heartbeat bill, which bans abortions at six weeks of pregnancy, ensures the law will remain in effect.
Senate Bill 8 treats women as second-class citizens, and it is preposterous that the courts have allowed this problematic law to stand.
The ACLU described the decision as “a devastating blow for abortion rights in Texas and across the country.”
Designed to circumvent judicial review, the law utilizes a bounty system of enforcement, empowering private citizens to sue anyone — from a driver to a doctor — who “aids or abets” women who have an abortion once fetal cardiac activity can be detected, generally about six weeks of pregnancy and before most women know they are pregnant. Rewards of $10,000 are offered for successful lawsuits, and not even cases of rape or incest are excluded.
“We conclude that Texas law does not grant the state-agency executives named as defendants in this case any authority to enforce the Act’s requirements, either directly or indirectly,” Justice Jeffrey S. Boyd concluded in the March 11 opinion.
In December, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed most of the case brought by Texas abortion providers.
As expected, the Texas law is spreading to other states that see it as a model. Recently, Idaho became the first state to adopt a copycat of Texas’ abortion ban, according to the New York Times.
Forcing women to carry unintended and unwanted pregnancies is unconstitutional — for now. Women should have the freedom to make their own health care decisions based on their views, and this law blocks that right.
This case raises an additional concern — that the structure of law will invade into other parts of American life. The peril of government overreach portends for other rights, and should raise concern for all.
San Antonio Express-News
