An unprecedented law obstructing the right to abortion has just come into force in Texas. It can still be blocked by the Supreme Court of the United States, which has been seized urgently by defenders of the right to abortion.
Most abortions became illegal this Wednesday, September 1 in the vast and very conservative US state of Texas, where an unprecedented law, which encourages the population to denounce violators, came into force overnight. It can still be blocked by the Supreme Court of the United States, which was seized urgently Monday by defenders of the right to abortion.
Without waiting for his decision, President Joe Biden lambasted a “radical” law, with “shameful” provisions, and promised to “protect” the right of women to have an abortion.
The text, signed in May by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, bans terminating any pregnancy once the embryo’s heartbeat is detected, at around six weeks pregnant, when most women don’t even know that they are pregnant. The law, which is part of an offensive by conservative states against the right to abortion, does not provide for an exception in cases of rape or incest, but only if the health of the pregnant woman is in danger.
“I woke up sad, worried, stunned”
More than 85% of abortions so far in Texas take place after six weeks of pregnancy, according to the state’s family planning organizations, which on Wednesday reported their deep dismay. “I woke up sad, worried, stunned,” Amy Hagstrom Miller, director of the Whole Woman’s Health organization, which operates four clinics in Texas, told a briefing. One of them, in Fort Worth, performed abortions until 11:56 p.m. Tuesday night, but had to stop as there were still patients in the waiting room. “The doctors were crying and asking me, what can we do for them?” Ms. Miller said.
“The patients are scared, confused, angry,” added Vanessa Rodriguez, who oversees the Planned Parenthood call centers in Texas. “We’re doing our best to try to help them … we’re looking for dates in Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico …”
“Denial bonus”
Before Texas, twelve states passed legislation to ban abortions as soon as the embryo’s heartbeat is noticeable. These laws have all been invalidated in court, because they violate the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court which recognized a right to abortion as long as the fetus is not viable, that is to say around 22 weeks of pregnancy.
But Texas has worded its law differently: it is not up to the authorities to enforce the measure, but “exclusively” to citizens, encouraged to bring civil complaints against organizations or people who help women to have abortions.
The text provides that citizens who initiate proceedings receive at least $ 10,000 in “compensation” in the event of conviction. Critics of the text see it as a “bonus” for denouncing, but its defenders have already set up forms on the internet to file “anonymous information”.
For procedural reasons, this device makes it more difficult for the federal courts to intervene, which have so far refused to take recourse against the law. Critics of the text therefore had to go directly to the Supreme Court. But, contrary to its habits, the high court did not intervene in time to prevent the text from entering into force.
“Ominous harbinger”
This “does not mean the end of Roe v. Wade”, underlines the professor of law Steve Vladeck in reference to the emblematic judgment of the Court of 1973 which recognized the right of women to abort. But the delay is “a dire omen of what awaits us in the future in this matter or another”, adds the academic.
Former President Donald Trump has radically changed the high court, bringing in three out of nine magistrates. Their arrival galvanized abortion opponents who have since competed in imagination to provide the Supreme Court with opportunities to reverse its jurisprudence. And she has already sent them encouraging signals: she agreed to review, this fall, a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy, hinting that she could go back on the test. “fetal viability” posited so far.
Almost half a century after Roe v. Wade, the right to abortion continues to strongly divide the United States, with strong opposition to abortion in religious circles, and is a powerful instrument for mobilizing voters on the right. According to an NBC poll released Wednesday, 54% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in the majority of cases and 42% illegal.
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