Even in conservative corners of Texas, efforts to crack down on abortion travel are meeting resistance with some local officials who support Texas’s strict abortion laws, expressing concern that the efforts go too far.
Honestly? As an American I find this positively insane.
Not just because it’s insane… but also they think it can be enforced.
Keep in mind this is the state that seceded from Mexico because they wanted to keep their slaves, failed as their own nation…. Joined the us and then seceded again because they got told no slaves again.
It's not even important if it can actually be enforced. Just the spectre of it maybe being enforced is enough to change people's behaviour.
This whole "letting the citizens sue other citizens" loophole that the Rs have started to use as a means to circumvent proper lawmaking processes has to be closed.
As a Texan it is really sad to see this shit happening. The state used to be all about personal freedoms and staying the fuck out of your personal life, but the political theater has just been "own the libs" for the last decade.
FFS the clowns in charge just tried to pass a law that would neuter the larger metropolitan areas' ability to pass their own legislation because even gerrymandering the high hell out of the state we are still turning purple. Unfortunately, the state is held hostage by rural communities who are afraid of melanin and think Jesus was too "woke".
I seem to remember lots and lots of gaslighting Republican lying LIARS claiming it was hysterical and ridiculous and you name it to talk about Gilead States or compare the Republicans' vision of America to the other dystopias like Idiocracy or the Rapture of the Nerds...
And now this. So much for "liberty" and "freedom". If you have a womb and don't want to uphold the Republican plan for you...
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. The implicit unironic Republican motto.
Especially in Texas, somehow the proliferation of machines of war makes society safer. Somehow policies that put women through absurd amounts of harm and kill them is "pro-life". And, somehow, ignoring or actively opposing experts and "doing your own research" makes you a free and critical thinker.
These laws seem ripe for exploitation by contrarian little shits who hate this bullshit and have nothing to lose if they get sued. Amtrak is in Texas – does it count if you're driving them to the station? What if you go off-road? Plus, if I get in my car with someone, what's to stop me and my abortion-seeking friend from driving through the town without stopping? How would anyone have cause to suspect me? If I get pulled over somehow, then this law can't apply, right? It's specifically private citizens.
Since it relies on people suing you, I feel like it leaves a lot of avenues open for someone with the right resources to fight in court.
While the term “trafficking” typically refers to people who are forced, tricked or coerced, Dickson’s definition applies to all people seeking abortions
We need to stop letting these assholes set the narrative. Nobody should ever use his made up definition.