Status: 02.09.2021 07:16 a.m.
Texas has massively tightened its abortion law. Observers take the fact that the Supreme Court has not stopped this as an indication – because a groundbreaking decision for the whole country is expected in autumn.
“I think we will win!” Shouted hundreds of demonstrators on the streets of Austin at the end of May. “Abortion must remain legal” was written on the posters that appeared on local television. But it turned out differently. Governor Greg Abbott and the Republican majority in Texas passed a law that went into effect Wednesday that makes abortion almost impossible.
Texas has literally turned the clock back 50 years, feels Alexis McGill Johnson, the head of “Planned Parenthood”. It’s a dark day, she says on television – not just for the seven million Texans, but also for the vast majority of Americans who believe there must be safe and legal abortions.
A recent poll by NBC shows that the majority of US citizens would like to allow abortion in almost all cases. The support is particularly high among women and young people.
Many do not yet know anything about pregnancy
Planned Parenthood is a family planning not-for-profit that also offers – or in the case of Texas, has offered – abortions. Because since Wednesday the women’s clinics in Texas have not been able to make any or hardly any appointments. The new “heartbeat law” prohibits abortions from about the sixth week, namely when a heartbeat can be heard.
85 percent of Planned Parenthood patients come after week six, says McGill Johnson, that this is normal. Most women didn’t even know they were pregnant until they were six weeks old. Not even rape or incest will be an exception in Texas in the future.
A $ 10,000 fine threatens if you help
Other Republican-majority states are also tightening their abortion laws. The topic is well received by the conservative, but above all by the religious base in the so-called Bible belt of the USA and mobilizes enormously.
What makes the legal situation in Texas so unique, however, is the enforcement of the law – because that does not lie with the authorities, but with the citizens. You are requested to report to doctors, the operators of clinics and their staff. Even those who drive a woman to the abortion clinic must expect prosecution – for aiding and abetting. If there is a conviction, the defendant or institution must expect a fine of $ 10,000 per case. The tipster is rewarded with at least $ 10,000.
The law’s critics are already speaking of “abortion bounty hunters”. For example, reports can be filed from outside the state and anti-abortion opponents have already set up websites where anonymous reports are received. Apart from that, this regulation also has a legal dimension: Since the authorities are not responsible for enforcement, it is more difficult for the defendants to defend themselves. And the law will be more difficult to challenge, its opponents fear.
Supreme Court rejects urgent motion
President Joe Biden has already taken a position: This extreme law is against the constitution, it says in a statement. His government stands by “Roe versus Wade” – the ruling that has lasted for almost 50 years and that allows women in the United States to make their own choice about an abortion.
“Planned Parenthood” and several gynecological hospitals have therefore called on the Supreme Court to stop the Texas law by issuing an urgent decision. The Supreme Court rejected the application – with a narrow majority of five to four. This means that the restrictive law in Texas will remain in effect for the time being. The Supreme Court stressed, however, that its decision against the urgent motion was not about the constitutionality of the law. Objection to the law is still possible.
The “Roe versus Wade” judgment
In the landmark ruling “Roe versus Wade” (“Roe versus Wade”), the US Supreme Court ruled on January 22, 1973 that state laws prohibiting abortion violated the United States’ Constitution. Since then, abortions have been practically unlimited in most US states. The name goes back to the alias name “Jane Roe” chosen to protect the plaintiff. The defendant for the state of Texas was the then District Attorney for Dallas County, Henry Wade. “Roe versus Wade” is one of the most socially controversial decisions in the history of the Supreme Court, which at the time was shaped by a liberal majority of judges.
Thanks to the personnel decisions of ex-President Donald Trump, the conservative judges now have a majority in the Supreme Court. And some of them have already made it clear that they want to overturn the historic “Roe versus Wade” judgment.
This could happen in autumn. Then the Supreme Court will see if Mississippi’s new abortion laws are constitutional. There is also a “heartbeat rule” there.
Texas Makes Abortions Nearly Impossible – What Next?
Katrin Brand, ARD Washington, September 2, 2021 6:38 a.m.