Texas Republicans Ban Women From Using Highways for Abortion Appointments
Lubbock County, Texas, joins a group of other rural Texas counties that have voted to ban women from using their roads to seek abortions.
This comes after six cities and counties in Texas have passed abortion-related bans, out of nine that have considered them. However, this ordinance makes Lubbock the biggest jurisdiction yet to pass restrictions on abortion-related transportation.
During Monday's meeting, the Lubbock County Commissioners Court passed an ordinance banning abortion, abortion-inducing drugs and travel for abortion in the unincorporated areas of Lubbock County, declaring Lubbock County a "Sanctuary County for the Unborn."
The ordinance is part of a continued strategy by conservative activists to further restrict abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade as the ordinances are meant to bolster Texas' existing abortion ban, which allows private citizens to sue anyone who provides or "aids or abets" an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
The ordinance, which was introduced to the court last Wednesday, was passed by a vote of 3-0 with commissioners Terence Kovar, Jason Corley and Jordan Rackler, all Republicans, voting to pass the legislation while County Judge Curtis Parrish, Republican, and Commissioner Gilbert Flores, Democrat, abstained from the vote.
This is incredibly fucked up. Handmaid's tale was a documentary.
Get ready for highway checkpoints for pregnant women, coming to a red state near you.
"I noticed your had a license plate light out, Ma'am. Please get out of the car and pee on this test strip."
"No, ma'am, right here in public while I watch. We need to make sure, that the liquid on the strip is in fact your pee..."
Complete with fences, barbed wire and "papers, please"
Atwood specifically called it speculative fiction, because everything written in there had happened already in some other form.
How tf would they even enforce this?
“Are you traveling to get an abortion?” “No, I’m going to visit family”
How would they prove otherwise? Is there something I’m missing?
The correct answer is “I don’t want to talk about my day.”
"Go f*ck yourself" is also an acceptable answer.
Good luck and godspeed using that approach with a rural county sheriff's office in Texas. No, they cannot enforce this, and you should probably just politely deflect the question and gtfo
As a middle aged white guy with no desire to go anywhere near Texas, my Internet blustering doesn't hold much water on this topic.
" Am I being detained or am I free to go?" If detained "then you shut the fuck up!"
It’s even better if you say “I invoke my fifth amendment right to stay silent” and then shut the fuck up.
Every day is Shut The Fuck Up Friday
Three people got busted in a raid. Third guy shut the fuck up, and the DA did not prosecute. They can’t prove what you’re doing there.
Then the Texas police will provide an abortion for you vida beatings.
You're missing the right to privacy in your phone. Make sure you didn't put the clinic into Google maps or make a call to them ahead of time. Governmental AI is on the way and it will be steered by the same people making these rules.
Just keep a strong password on your phone, and disable biometrics if you're travelling for abortion.
They can't compel the password out of you, but they can compel a finger print, or pointing it at your face unlock.
You should look up geofence warrants, that are now very, very common.
They can subpoena google or apple for anyone traveling through their jurisdiction to specific areas.
Yep. One should never use a smartphone with the intent of ever breaking a law. It's nothing but a huge papertrail for law enforcement. Believe in parallel construction and don't believe stories of safely encrypted data in either iOS or Android.
Well that's fucked...
Or anyone who makes a particular search.
Quickly tapping or holding the lock button on an iPhone will disable biometric entry until a pin is entered.
Thats useful, but if I'm doing something where I'm concerned I might have my phone checked (airports, border crossing etc), I'd rather just turn it off off, instead of having to remember to do that, or do it each time I unlock my phone in those circumstances.
Could be easy to forget in the moment.
Great if it's truly unexpected
If you think they are going to get this info directly off your phone, you are pretty naive. It's social media where they will harvest this data. Locking your phone is like holding your pinky up to avoid getting wet in a storm.
I imagine that someone trying to get an abortion won't be too public about it on social media...
Even if they are, that shouldn't stop them from seeking or receiving healthcare. Fuck this evil GOP bullshit.
That's being shortsighted about things. Remember the story of how Target knew a girl was pregnant. You think if they are going to dig for evidence, they wouldn't just use tactics like that. You won't have to announce you have had an abortion, but I am sure certain actions that are tracked by social media will scream it out for you. I don't understand why I am downvoted on my previous post. I am merely trying to warn people about the dangers of letting big companies or govt collect all this information on us. But hey, I guess people don't care enough to stop it.
I mean, there's that mother who was jailed because there was evidence of aiding an abortion in her private Facebook messages, so it's not like there isn't even immediate precedent.
There's a complete lack of understanding about privacy on these sites. People will make mistakes, especially younger people seeking abortions. Even adults will make that mistake as seen here.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/nebraska-mother-sentenced-to-2-years-in-prison-for-giving-abortion-pills-to-pregnant-daughter-1.6574100
It basically gives them an excuse to detain any woman they want, which is the purpose.
Great, more prison rape leading to pregnancies.
GOP are wanting to Make America Great Again! You know, the good ol' days when women would have to marry their rapist!
LEAs have been shown to actively track women who use search engines or messaging services to seek information about abortion services. There's a non-zero chance that women who they suspect, and their friends and family, are tagged in their system when they search the plates of someone passing by.
It's not about lying to cops, particularly if they can already prove you were seeking those services in the first place. At that point they'll arrest you with probable cause.
They already use that kind of system with drug dealers. If they suspect you sell drugs, they will tag your name and plate and find a reason to pull you over if they spot you. Why would they hesitate to track women like that?
Arrest on suspicion?
It goes like this:
Whether they are correct in issuing an arrest doesn't matter for them because they have qualified immunity. They let the courts sort it out.
I was just having this conversation the other day. The person was absolutely confounded how in the world this law would be enforced. I essentially said that it doesn't matter. Cops will stop you for whatever, arrest you for whatever, send you to jail for whatever, doesn't matter. If they're wrong, oh well, that's the court's job.
Easy, women shouldn't be allowed to use highways period. Then they won't be able to drive to abortions.
Fuck it, women shouldn't be allowed to drive. Long live the United States of Saudi Arabia!
They cannot because they do not have jurisdiction at all. You can't prosecute someone for doing something legal in another area.
That's the loophole they're trying to use. You can't punish them for the abortion, so you punish them for using public roads for disallowed purposes (driving to abortion). They do have jurisdiction over road use.
They dont really have jurisdiction over road use because of the interstate commerce clause either.
Thats why they claim this bullshit law doesnt cause any conflict, because they aren't restricting use of the road, they are just "making it easier for private citizens to sue people that help women doing something legal one state over" which is of course restricting use of the road, but pretending its not.
Yeah, it's absolutely ridiculous and hopefully it won't stand up to a challenge. But the fact that it exists, and no one wants to be the one going to court to fight the government, means that it will still have an effect on these women.
There’s two things that apply in this situation. The first is that like several other states, they’re not making getting an abortion in another state illegal, they’re making traveling on their infrastructure for the purposes of obtaining an abortion in another state illegal. Is that an unconstitutional restriction on interstate commerce? Who the fuck knows anymore? I don’t think it will hold, but I didn’t expect Justice Thomas to rise like Cthulhu from his eternal and well grifted slumber to kill Roe, so I’m not offering an opinion on that.
The second way, and this is also worrying me, is that while they can’t make flying to California to smoke pot illegal, they can make having pot in your system when you land back in Texas illegal. If they can’t make having an abortion in CA illegal, can they still use medical records to track that your pregnancy was terminated out of state, and prosecute you on a charge after returning to the state with a terminated pregnancy?
To be honest, I think that will fail too, but I’m sure it’ll land on the books someplace.
I’m also sure that these will all become national level laws because people still think politics is a team sport, and if it does not terrify you that the worst president in the history of the US and with openly fascist statements of taking full control and going after his enemies is running neck and neck with just a regular pre-2000s style politician, you’re either not paying attention or you’re privileged as all fuck.
This is my take as well. I hope folks figure it out and that laws like these get wiped out.
This is why I as a Canadian can't fathom why Americans seem to think they have more freedom than I do somehow. To me the whole "States Rights" debacle essentially gives Americans two countries worth of laws that they are bound by instead of one.
The fact the US also enforces it's laws on non-citizens for things done outside it's country legally gives the whole thing the sense of the US being drunk on it's own sovereignty. Like it's legal to smoke pot here but if you are tricked into mentioning at a US boarder crossing that you EVER smoked weed on Canadian soil even if it was in the distant past you risk being forever barred from entry into the US.
And to be clear this is not their citizens doing things in their own country that are not illegal by the measure of that country's law. From what I understand there isn't much of an appeal process either because once it's done our citizenry suddenly goes into category "not my monkey not my circus".
The US is very very fond of restriction of freedoms from an outsider perspective.
I'm not super sure that applies here - they aren't being punished (legally) for getting the abortion, but for using the roads to get there. It seems to me conceptually similar to how European companies aren't allowed to sell drugs that are used for lethal injection to the US, even though those drugs are legal to sell in Europe: They aren't being punished for taking part in an execution that's legal where it happens, just for doing something that enables it in a place where it isn't legal. Same deal here.
I'm sure it's an unconstitutional/illegal law for some other reason, I just don't think this specific reason applies.
I’m excited to see the faces when this is used to regulate guns.
Sorry sir, but in this here county you can’t take guns out of your yard. To include bringing them in the first place.
The guns that are in your home stay put and your rights are intact.
When pulled over, any interaction beyond what is required by law should be not answered or answered with something along the lines of invoking the 5th. There are a bazillion YouTube lawyers that all the say this.
If you need directions, put in something that isn't the abortion place, but has it along the way, like a national park or other tourist place, some conference, etc. Then put in the real destination when you get across the border.
These types of laws tend to rely on someone close to the pregnant person calling the cops, usually family. These communities passing these laws are full of people who would eagerly jail their children for getting an abortion.
No no, not their children. Their child's abortion is necessary. Their child has so much potential and Jesus will forgive them for it.
You childs abortion? You're a heathen that will burn in hell for baby murder.
The big issue is that it's not law enforcement that enforce this, it's everyday people - and those people are given immunity by this law.
Just some advice here: don’t answer questions.
A cop pulls you over “I don’t answer questions”, “I’d like to speak to a lawyer.”, “I do not consent to a search.”, “I would like to speak to a lawyer.”
If they keep asking questions. Do not respond with anything other than “I would like to speak to a lawyer.” Be polite; but you are far more likely to incriminate yourself than not.
The more you say, they more they can use against you.
And be recording all of this to the cloud while you're at it.
make sure to record without unlocking your phone, if that's the route you're going to go. Also. Don't use biometrics to unlock your phone. Use a pin. Less convenient, sure, but your face/fingerprint is "evidence", but they can't compel you to give up your pin.
not that it's going to do much at all. there's tools that they can use to crack inside of... moments.
I think it would likely be used to add extra charges after the fact ie did you get caught? Then you must have also commited this crime on top of the others. Then again I might be ascribing logic where there is none.
Oh, you now committed 3 crimes in the process of having your abortion, that's now a life sentence without parole!
Straight up intimidation. Women will now be pulled over and asked questions that are nobody's business, not to mention it gets more women pulled over and in danger of being assaulted by police.
Depends. Are they black/brown?
Easy. Arrest all pregnant women traveling.
Who is going to stop them?
Everything else aside, that's about as clear a violation of the Commerce Clause as you can get.
The inability of states to regulate interstate commerce was settled by the courts in 1824.
The same laws that allows firearms to be shipped through states where they're illegal protects abortion-seekers on Texas roads
Nothing is "settled" with the current Supreme Court.
Commerce Clause is about as settled as it can get, though. Especially with a Court so enamoured with Founders Intent. Gibbons v Ogden is probably only behind Marbury v Madison in sacred status to this Court.
It's cute that you still have faith in conservatives doing anything consistently
Overturning Gibbons would do more harm to the conservative cause than good.
The entire West Coast is liberal-controlled states. They could legally tax or simply cut off any goods or services bound for conservative states originating from or passing through their states.
All to defend a law that's essentially unenforceable from a practical standpoint.
Again, you're assuming conservatives have any sort of consistency or logic. They'll just make up some BS that keeps things moving the way they want.
SCOTUS allowed the abortion bounty law SB8 to stand before Roe was overturned. It was clearly unconstitutional. So, they're just expanding on it to the next logical steps.
Something something it's not commerce because reasons.
Nevermind that the Commerce Clause has been cited to give the federal government authority to prohibit activities that are neither commerce nor inter-state, such as growing cannabis for personal use on your own property.
Schroedinger's commerce. It's commerce only when it's convenient for prohibitionists.
The federal government doesn't outlaw abortion, so they can't use the Commerce Clause to enforce abortion restrictions enacted by the states.
However, the issues you cite with them being bullies with the commerce clause are centered on authority granted through Gibbons.
Gibbons was specifically about states trying to enforce laws (specifically state-granted steamboat monopolies) within their borders that had a direct impact on commerce within another state. The Supreme Court declared that a violation of the commerce clause because only the Federal Government can regulate interstate commerce.
Texas passing laws prohibiting travel to another state to seek abortions (which are federally legal) could only be allowed by SCOTUS by overturning Gibbons, which would be absolutely devastating.
That would be by far the most-impactful reversal in the Court's history, and it can't be overstated how much of a grenade it would be. Everybody would lose, and the GOP's owners more than anyone else.
IANAL: how exactly is this going to get overturned? The courts have already gotten rid of offender observer standing so the only way would be if this is actually enforced at which point the Supreme Court could simply allow the appeals court ruling stand.
Why does Texas hate freedom so much?
Texans are some of the most delusional people on the planet.
For some reason, even the democrats there think it's better than states like Florida. It isn't.
The only state that is objectively worse than Texas is Louisiana, and that's saying something.
You clearly don't know what you're talking about since you skipped Mississippi, land of waffle House and sadness.
Nah. I skipped Mississippi on purpose. Cheap housing, decent geography, and that's about it.
More than Texas can say, though.
Hmmm
It's bad when Oklahoma has advantages over texas.
Yep. It's that bad.
Idk, Florida is prettttty bad
Mississippi is also a strong contender
At least Mississippi doesn't pretend to be god's gift to humanity and the greatest nation to ever exist. Texas is high as shit on the smell of its own farts.
That is a fair point.
At least Mississippi only fought one war for slavery.
I agree, but I'd rather live in Mississippi than Texas.
At least they have cheap housing.
Texas has cheap housing outside of the cities. It's what lets idiots brag about "cheaper cost of living," ignoring that it's because the state is less urbanized.
Texas has some pretty cheap housing. A friend just bought a 3000 sqft single outside of Austin for ~300k.
I bought a 2000 sqft single detached in my city for $1.2mil so... Texas definitely wins on that front. But then you have to live in Texas =/.
That's not cheap at all compared to Mississippi, lol.
Their property taxes also suck more than people know but there's no denying California real estate prices suck.
Alabama is trying, but there not quite at Texas's level yet.
For real, at least everything in FL is cheap af.
Not anymore. Rent has almost doubled where I'm at and South Florida seems to be worse
Not the housing.
Doesn't this run afoul of the commerce clause?
A random ass County can't ban travel on any roads or highway for any reason, right? That's strictly the job of congress.
Also I'd like to add:
How about this worthless board look into why there is so much crime in the county before Talibaning travel for women?
You have a 1 in 92 chance of being a victim of violent crime in Lubbock County compared to a 1 in 220 chance in the rest of Texas
Because Lubbock is a meth-infested shithole in the middle of nowhere. The only thing to do there is drugs, alcohol, rape, and domestic violence.
Truly a "Sanctuary County for the Unborn."
Board: "that's almost where we want things, let's see if we can pump up those chances"
My first thought as well. There is NO way this doesn't get struck down in a court case. If you can't even ban guns on streets near schools (US v. Lopez) then you definitely can't ban a person from driving on a road to get to a medical procedure in a different state.
Have you seen the other decisions made by SCOTUS?
They don't give a shit about consistency or law or precedent. They are politicians put there to deliver specific outcomes.
It's not a ban, per se, it "just" opens people up to civil liability. The reason they do it that way is to skirt the Constitution.
My guess is this is what will doom this law, specifically since they're also looking at drugs which are certainly commodities from out of state.
It might also be a prior restraint case depending on if traveling to a women's healthcare provider is protected expression.
Like, the problem for the county here is trying to stop people from doing something they can't prove they're actually going to do.
They might be able to plus up other charges based on using county property in the commission of some other "crime" (gigantic air quotes). Sort of like getting extra charges due to using the USPS to commit a crime.
Exactly. They’d have to prove you were specifically going there to get an abortion.
Cops can’t stop you because you were on your way to a bank, just because they feel you might want to rob it. You have to have actually done something illegal in the first place.
LOL Sure, in theory they can't, but in reality cops do stop people for any made up reason and they can also shoot you for any made up reason without consequence.
And "pro-life" people will support every cop that kills a pregnant woman on that highway.
Maybe women should just GTFO of Texas. Anything vag related and doctors won't want to do anything incase you're pregnant.
I think getting the fuck out of Texas is exactly what this legislation is attempting to prevent. If they get away with this, I'd doubt they'll stop there, either. Never mind abortion, this will set the precedent that they can legally "prevent" you from using public road infrastructure for any particular purpose they feel like.
It doesn't take a legal expert to see why the line of reasoning they're using to justify this is horseshit, nor to grasp just how dangerous this type of thing is.
Proving Obama's "you didn't build that" statement.
That's often easier said then done
That's easy to say, not so simple to do. Especially when friends and family ask why you are moving far from them ans your job. To speak nothing of the costs for Interstate moving.
“I just don’t want to live here anymore” or “the other place seems nice” is perfectly valid. The cost part is unfortunate though.
Can't let this virus spread. It has to be fought at the source.
Texas bans Woman ...
Woman ban Texas !
That's the idea. Republicans want a permanent majority in Texas, and they're making the state as inhospitable as possible to anyone who might vote against them.
They are losing the battle as the state is slowly becoming more purple
Why do you think they're trying so hard?
Next up they will advise women to carry a note from thier husband or father detailing where they are going so they can avoid suspicion. The cops will pull them over and ask for thier papers.
Dude shut up! They do not need new ideas!!!
Gilead has entered the chat
Cool... driving whilst pregnant is the latest thing to fear US police over then. Wait until the first pregnant woman is shot as part of a routine traffic stop checking for abortion plans.
Yeah but she's be black, or poor or queer so it's okay
The officer had to save the life of the fetus. (by shooting the person keeping it alive)
"Texas wants to imprison women." FTFY
Texas hates women ftfy
Ftfy
To be fair, we all hate them too
FTFY
Need more slaves for the private prison industry.
I'm sorry but this makes Texas less than a third world country. This is just backwards and medieval.
Pregnancy check road blocks sure sound fun
I am just wondering: how?
Women who are a month pregnant don't show they are. Are they really going to ask every women to piss on a stick?
they can't but they want to. They will also scream libertarianism until they pop a blood vessel but will want the government to fund it.
Yes, and then rape the pretty ones. Murder the Black ones.
That's literally their plan.
And then they scream "freedom" and wave flags like it means something.
The Party of Small Government, Ladies and Gentlemen. The most grotesque joke since The Aristocrats.
Who was the comedian that said "The party of government so small you can shove it up your vagina" or something to that effect.
This won't be directly enforced. It will be used to add more punishment to those caught trying to get an abortion.
Not just those getting an abortion, but anyone helping them. It's designed to isolate pregnant women so that they have no one to turn to if they need help.
Very true
Or more worryingly, used as an excuse by cops to stop any woman they want whenever they want on suspicion they're trying to get an abortion.
And then they can force women to take pregnancy tests on the spot, which will require stripping for giving urine samples, giving police plausible deniability to rape whoever they want.
Mark my words, it WILL happen.
Cops are going to pull over women and rape them, getting them pregnant where they will be forced to carry out the pregnancy.
Cops have raped women before in Texas, this guarantees it'll happen again.
It will, but being pregnant is the not same as wanting to get an abortion. I wonder how they'll prove that.
this is the dumbest antifreedom thing I've seen in months. just how can anyone think this is a good idea.
I bet the cookers who dreamt up this scheme were against covid lockdowns aswell
Oh, that's an easy one! Fascists.
Cookers?
cooked idiots who fall for all manner of extremist stuff online. antivax movement in a nutshell
How the fuck do you even enforce this?
So: snitching.
And they're damn slick about it, too. They start by asking a woman who they think might be pregnant how far along they are, if they have a name picked out, all innocent and normal questions to ask an expecting mother, right? Like, they do it at rest stops and gas stations. And because the woman seeking an abortion isn't being questioned by someone who outwardly looks like a cop, they let their guard down. So, basically if you're a pregnant woman in Texas and you are seeking to leave the state for an abortion, trust NOBODY. Keep your guard up, don't answer any questions, and don't stop anywhere unless absolutely necessary.
So close... Just don't answer questions in Texas. Regardless of your gender, natal status, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs, someone is trying to fuck you with something. Even being a cisgender heterosexual white male is not safe if your lacking a confederate flag or maga hat.
In all seriousness, the only correct response to someone in Texas randomly asking a woman questions about a pregnancy is very appalled and indignant "No I'm not doing insert activity here. I'm not pregnant. Are you calling me fat?"
By stopping all cars with pregnant women and telling them they aren't allowed to leave the county. I imagine that's what they might end up doing.
I'd say that'd wind up in front of the Supreme Court really fucking quickly...
Except, I think that's what they're counting on...
They're also counting on people without means not being able to take it to court to begin with. A quick look at a map tells me there's an airport in Lubbock county, I bet there hasn't been a law introduced to keep pregnant women off of an airplane...
Ah, so its only no abortion for the poor then.
As expected. Rules are for the poors.
Are you surprised?
No, they do it through the same mechanism that made the Texas Heartbeat Bill possible. Private reporting and investigation, AKA snitching. Remember in Texas you can get $10k for reporting a woman seeking an abortion.
Selectively
You beat me to it.
Texan Taliban impose driving ban
Well, they are ok with Tex-Mex, so Tex-Queida is probably ok. Same with Tex-ria law, obviously.
Texiban?
Texas is where freedom goes to die
Brain Cheney tells me that we should give them the one freedom they truly want, and un-annex them.
But that, of course, is needlessly cruel and would only punish innocent folks trying to survive in what is already a hellscape.
I'd take refugee status in the US if it meant Texas (and Florida) were annexed out of the US.
Though, that'd suck for any future generations who are born with half a brain.
This sounds incredibly illegal? Where the fuck is the law?
Probably blocking the road
Unfortunately, the legal precedent that protected a woman's right to get an abortion was overturned by the SCOTUS and now we've got a complete mish-mash of state and local laws being created to test the boundaries of what they can do.
It's almost like using precedents instead of just writing the fucking laws unambiguously is an inherently broken concept.
I would say the 14th Amendment is pretty unambiguous on abortion, just as the Commerce Clause is 100% unambiguous on the unconstitutionality of these travel laws. The problem is that it's not specific, which is the opening used by this adversarial SCOTUS.
Even if you had 100 pages listing specifics for a Constitutional Amendment, you'd STILL miss obvious ones. The protection from Cruel and Unusual punishment, for example. It should be more unambiguous by including a list of 100 things the authors considered cruel, 100 things the authors considered unusual, and then a stipulation that they meant "if any of those 200 items is true". And even then, those Constitutional authors didn't write "Keelhauling" in the list, so that must be fine!
But summarizing... You can't have a large over-arcing right that stands the test of time and dishonest lawmakers without it being general and requiring some interpretation. If only we could solve for dishonest SCOTUS justices.
Ultimately, the only check or balance that actually works is the people. No system of laws will protect you from a broken culture. If millions of Americans didn't support this kind of behaviour then the politicians writing these laws would never have won their elections, but since they do, they'll find whatever justification they need to to impose their ideology.
Sure, but I'm replying to the person whose opinion is that laws aren't worded correctly. They're worded fine. There's just bad actors involved.
Without bad actors, you don't need to worry about wording laws more specifically. With bad actors, it doesn't matter if you have a "Abortions cannot be banned" amendment.
The bigots dictate the law now and everyone lets them because no one wants to overthrow those evil local governments, not even legally through elections.
Full faith and credit only works in one direction; towards Texas.
If Lubbock county is a "sanctuary for the unborn" then they'll be glad to help pregnant women and then adopt any unwanted children, right? Right?
Surely they have a model foster care system!
Conservatives are garbage.
Also Texas: "Why are we having so much trouble recruiting OB-gyns? Why do we have to close so many rural obstetrics departments?"
Idk, I get the feeling that they want OB/GYNs to leave. I think they want women to suffer and die in childbirth, just as God intended.
This shouldn't be a problem based on how they think abortions work...the woman didn't go out FOR an abortion, she was out shopping and decided to get one, like picking up a snack on your way out of the market!
Seriously it's deranged. If they behaved generally like they care about the 'children' and the women, I could accept they're at least acting in good faith according to their dumbass beliefs, but they don't seem to care except for outlawing and restricting women's activities, so it's clear that those who say the point is just to subjugate women are right.
We should probably also have them start wearing masks and robes over their faces/bodies too, to prevent them from having unwanted pregnancies. Actually, just don't even give driver's licenses to women in the first place, since they should always be getting escorted by their fathers or husbands in the first place, they really shouldn't even be allowed to drive. And if we wanted to reduce unemployment, we could just require all these women in the workplace to go back to being stay-at-home moms, like God intended, freeing up all those jobs for hard-working American men to work at. Send me money if you agree.
Oh, oh. Don't forget that women don't need to bother with the whole pesky voting thing. Their brains aren't built for it. The 19th amendment was a mistake.
Wow you should run as governor. I should you give you a suggestion between Florida or Texas.
Y'all-Qaeda
Everyone needs to start suing conservatives in Texas under this law. Make these conservatives fight their own defenses and raise defense funds. I don't get why lawsuits didn't fly against prominent GOP voters and members day 1. Make their lives hell with lawsuits.
Lawsuits are expensive. By design. The rich want a serf class, let alone women who cannot vote...
I didn't think Texans would be so easily convinced to give up their civil liberties, this doesn't sound like the "stand your ground" state. If this isn't reason enough for the people of Texas to make use of the second amendment's right to bare arms, intended exactly for situations like this - for citizens to protect themselves when their government oversteps, I don't know what is.
Conservatives know that the enforcement will be selective, and that's exactly what they want.
They will only change their minds when it directly affects them.
"there must be outgroups the law binds but does not protect, and in groups the law protects but does not bind"
How the fuck could it ever be enforced? You'd have to have a printed copy of your abortion invoice on the passenger seat face up.
Fucking absolutely backwards.
it's more about sending a message to their base than actually passing effective laws.
it allows them to pull over and selectively harass people they don't like (minorities) on suspicion that they might be getting an abortion.
This makes Texans look weak honestly. Letting these politicians walk all over them.
As long as it's hurting the "right people", they will support it 100%, and by the time their little brains realize they're not part of the in-group they think they are, it'll be far too late.
Republicans will literally give up everything for guns and pro life stuff.
Just as long as they're hurting the right people (women and minorities).
Republicans do not care about freedom or personal liberty. Texas is pretty red with the exception of the major cities. The majority of the state is roughly in favor of these decisions.
Big government for thee but not for me!
Does this include highways that receive federal funding? That’s a good way to get this repealed. Threaten to pull funding.
I feel like we should be pulling funding anyhow.
“Oh. You want to secede? Well about this. We’ll do a transitional period. We won’t send you money, and you won’t send us taxes. Talk to you in about a decade. Hope a hurricane doesn’t hit, cuz that’d suck… also, your citizens won’t be paying into or benefit from Social Security… and also? We’re setting up a customs control point on your border, and your people need a visa.
“Also you get to deal with Mexico if they choose to take steps because you’re an asshole.”
And… they can begin making payments on their share of the federal debt.
I mean, just cutting federal safety nets off would be sufficient to cause their economic collapse. The burden imposed by that alone would fuck texans over inside of a year or two.
then you have the infrastructure spending- the Port of Houston, for example. needs a massive 75 million dollar upgrade to be competitive. Cut out the federal spending for customs and security and that clown show becomes even worse. Also, removing it as a port of entry into the US proper-like means that people are far more likely to go to other ports. all of which combines to increased spending and decreased economic revenue.
There's really no reason to need to impose debt payments. their collapse is inevitable and they wouldn't be able to pay it anyhow. Further... their healthcare and schools are crap so they'd loose a lot of skilled workers as people leave.
one point, though. Remember one of the causes of ww2 was the sanctions imposed after ww1. I doubt it would spark ww3, but, it would cause... resentment.
Texas, as well as plenty other states, aren't even in full compliance with the ADA which is a law over 30 years old, it's an ongoing fight that really started with the legal case Olmstead vs LC and moved into the seeking of consent decrees in recent years. To my knowledge none of the states that are infracting the ADA have been threatened with funding revocation or financial penalties of any kind. I doubt money will play any part of this. They'll just run it through the courts until the people who are doing this dont have jobs anymore I'd wager, if they do anything at all.
The ADA doesn't interfere with the Commerce Clause.
The government will not dad dick you any faster than if you fuck with the Commerce Clause.
And then they scream land of the free
It's like Saudi Arabia, where women are completely free to do exactly what men tell them to do.
Sure. Its all about controllino women. This is some Taliban shit. Fuck these guys.
If you think laws cannot get more ridiculous, Texas proves you wrong.
How are they going to enforce this? Police patrols on highways stopping each and every car with a female in it that is of "eglible age" and submit her to a mandatory pregnancy test before she is allowed to leave the state - only if test is negative? And put those who happen to be positive into a "pregnancy protection ward" or something?
It's civilian enforced. So say a person overhears a woman telling her friend that they are leaving tomorrow to drive to another state for an abortion. The person can sue her (and anyone helping her) for violating this law. If they win, they get a chunk of cash and the "satisfaction" of knowing they are oppressing women.
It's designed to not only deter women from getting abortions, but to deter people from helping them. If you were in Texas and a friend asked you to drive her to get an abortion in another state, you'd need to weigh the possibility of being sued. You might decide it was too much of a risk for you and not help. And that's what they are hoping to achieve.
So what I'm hearing is that we need to start some campaign to make new language for abortion that will obfuscate whether you're going for an abortion or going for tourism reasons to a state that will help. Which states around texas will still offer medical care to a pregnant woman?
I'm sure that will spring up, but it shouldn't be necessary. Also, all it takes is a woman telling one friend who either turns on her or who spills the beans to someone else.
Ahh, the good old Blockwart method. Worked well in Nazi Germany. Just in case you had doubts where the Republicans are getting their ideas from.
Wait... I thought it was us socialists that were all about the thoughtcrimes?
Starting the stopwatch for the next pregnant woman shot dead by police to stop her from getting an abortion
Mission failed successfully?
Sounds like someone isn’t familiar with the interstate commerce clause of the constitution.
I don't think they're concerned about the constitution at this point.
Any concern they have is in how to render it powerless.
And so the tyranny begins.
Begins? I'd say "returns" at best, but more probably "continues" or "intensifies".
I'm sure the gun-hoarders will come out in droves to fight it now, right?
Sanctuary for the Unborn and Cemetery for the Born. #Freedom.
For the first time, I find myself compelled to find out what those stupid sovereign cit fucks are referencing with all their talk about "right to travel."
Time to take out the Texas legislature......
... To dinner! What a good job those yokel fucks are doing.
Also.. does Texas just not have women who vote?
Yes but they seem to hate other women
And themselves
Hey Texas! Are you idiots Great Again yet??
This state has never been great.
Jfc, I hope all women in Texas have their sights on eventually moving out and away. This is absurd
Yup! The second my contract is up I'm out of here and never looking back!
In the meantime, I'll vote, and pressure others to do so as well. I'm trying to remain optimistic, but I gotta tell you, watching Greg Abbott get re-elected nearly made me lose hope in this state. I'm still hoping it can be turned around, but that hope is hanging on via life support at this point. And if Republicans still remain in power when I'm out, then fuck this state. I did my best while I was here.
Which reminds me, it's time for me to re-up my Deputy Voters Registrar cert in my county! Let the drives begin!
The commerce clause would like a word.
I'm thinking we need to mess with Texas. They've gone too long not being messed with and now they've gone insane.
Just gotta wait till it snows and their power grid breaksAnd I'm sure it was penned by some 105 year old dinosaur
Hol’ up….
As dumb as both this and the “I can sue you because abortion!” thing are, this one cannot “bolster” the other because it specifically targets women.
In the original one, the woman obtaining the abortion cannot be targeted. It has to be a doctor, friend, clinic escort, Uber driver (yes, it’s fucking dumb ok), etc. but not the woman.
So this one kinda violates the other LOL
How could they even begin to enforce this?!
They get your neighbors to turn you in.
Roadside genital testing, followed by taking anyone found to have a vagina down to the station for an evidentiary pregnancy test.
What a middle aged country is in some ways
What the fuck?
This doesn't go against the constitution?
Not anymore it doesn't. The illegitimate "supreme court" has ruled that states have the sole authority to create and enforce laws related to abortion.
Conservatism is a plague of oppression. It always has been. Teach your children why it's immoral to keep company with conservatives.
I really hate the terms liberal and conservative. It makes liberals sound thriftless when their greatest sin is giving a damn and trying to improve the future, and conservatives sound judicious when they're more interested in genitals than clean water or shelter.
I feel like more accurate would be preventionists and reactionaries, or progressives and regressives, cooperative party and uncooperative party, the discussion party and the tantrum party, the social party and the antisocial party, building sandcastles party and the kicking sandcastles party, simply the sharing party and the selfish party.
I like progressive and regressive.
That is not even close to what the Dobbs decision ruled. What are you talking about?
Dobbs just said basically that the Constitution does not imply a fundamental right to an abortion (which is what Roe said). That's it. Congress is still free to pass laws about abortion, and it could try to preempt states prohibiting it.
Not to mention the Commerce Clause reserves the power to regulate interstate commerce to the federal government, which this Texas ordinance doesn't explicitly violate, but comes awfully close and will probably be challenged on those grounds.
Texas is so fucking stupid.
I think the same thing every time I have had to visit over the last several years. Fuck everything about that insane shithole.
This is satire right? Right??!! RIGHT?!!???
Unfortunately no. This is some stupid fuck running around convincing all of these counties to pass these ridiculous laws all based on his belief. And people are just falling in line. Here you go. This dickhead: "At the helm of legislation and the campaign to ban abortion-related transit in Texas is Mark Lee Dickson, a Christian pastor who began pushing communities to outlaw abortion by declaring themselves "sanctuary cities for the unborn" in 2019."
We're about at the point where people are going to have to start setting up a modern underground railroad to help women and their families escape that oppressive shithole and set up lives where they're free.
Thats already happening
i fucking hate texas and i hope it burns
Oh don't worry, with the increasing droughts caused by global warming it's inevitable that this shit-tier patch of land will die in fire.
Wonder if this is just a preemptive measure to prevent someone from suing the city, claiming they were "aiding and abetting" women seeking abortions? After all, the law is so vague that a Republican extremist (or a Democratic rabble-rouser) could probably argue allowing women to use those roads runs afoul of the law.
By allowing the mother to live freely and not be in a jail cell the moment they have sex, they are aiding and abetting them.
As much as allowing them to own a bank account with which to purchase mifepristone, I'm sure...
So that needs a question answered, very badly. How many lawsuits could a 'concerned party' file against every city on the road between a pregnant woman and another state? A few hundred per abortion? If you hit them over the head enough, maybe local politics would turn against the idiocy of the abortion lawsuit law, and that could filter to the state level?
Give it 6 more months and it will just be "Texas Republicans ban women."
How would they enforce this?
Benjamin...get the Musket.
People there apparently do not know what jurisdiction is.
How do they plan to enforce this! Write a ticket to every pregnant woman that drives.
Nope, no tickets or cops involved. Article says that it would be enforced by private lawsuits, not law enforcement.
In other words they can't stop anybody from traveling for that reason, they just want to be able to punish them with lawsuits out of pettiness.
Hmmm i wonder if people could clog the courts with frivolous suits. "I am sueing them on the grounds that a woman was in the car"
It's the same private citizen enforcement that was done for the Texas abortion ban in the first place. It does an end run around the Constitution and case law where it's not technically the state doing any of the enforcement.
Or more accurately pull over and rape/murder any woman who drives
Next they'll ban anyone from using their roads to get to Commiefornia /s
Y'all-qaeda strikes again!
what. the. fuck.