Status: 02.10.2021 8:48 p.m.
“My body, my decision, my right” – in the USA numerous people are protesting against the new, extremely restrictive abortion law in Texas. Thousands took to the streets in Washington alone.
For a month now, Texas has had by far the strictest abortion law in the United States – there are no exceptions even for rape – and since then politicians, organizations and many citizens have been attacking the law.
On Saturday, an alliance of 200 organizations called for people to protest for the right to abortion – and apparently many people followed the call. In the capital Washington alone, thousands of women took part in the “Women’s March” before the country’s Supreme Court. Overall, the organizers of the protests expected up to 250,000 participants in around 600 US cities nationwide.
In the US capital Washington alone, thousands of people took to the streets against the strict Texan abortion law.
Image: REUTERS
The organizers of the so-called women’s marches want the US Congress to establish the right to abortion at the federal level. The individual states would then also be bound by this. The House of Representatives, which is dominated by the Democrats, passed a corresponding law last week. An acceptance in the second chamber of Congress, in the Senate, is hopeless, however, since the conservative Republicans there have enough votes to block the law.
Restrictive “heartbeat law”
Texas’s new abortion regime is the biggest restriction on abortion in the US since it was legalized in the 1970s. Without exception, it prohibits termination of pregnancy from the moment the fetus’s heartbeat can be determined. This is the case from around the sixth week of pregnancy, when many women do not even know that they are pregnant.
What also makes the legal situation in Texas so unique is the enforcement of the law – because it 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 entity must expect a fine of $ 10,000 per case. The tipster is rewarded with at least $ 10,000. The critics of the law are therefore already speaking of “abortion bounty hunters”.
US government sues – court to deliberate on Monday
The US government under President Joe Biden considers the law to be unconstitutional – the Supreme Court, however, rejected an urgent application for procedural reasons and will now deal with the subject on Monday.
The Supreme Court had anchored the right of women to an abortion in its landmark decision “Roe v. Wade” in 1973. Opponents of abortion are now hoping that this ruling could be overturned after former President Donald Trump appointed three new constitutional judges during his tenure, moving the court significantly further to the right.