From a European perspective it's crazy to read this. It feels like reading about an evil government rising to power in some young adult novel.
Texas is soon equivalent to Saudi Arabia. I don't want to go there for any reason.
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.
It's not a legal issue, it's just propaganda and fear mongering masked as a legal issue to create confusion.
Anybody can sue anybody for anything. That's a fact you can't and don't want to change.
These "laws" would not stand up in court. They don't actually want anybody to sue for this because the first case that gets thrown out or ruled against will show that.
But until that happens it's a cheap way to scare people.
The problem isn’t that anyone can sue anyone, the problem is that these laws give legal standing for anyone to sue anyone. Normal lawsuits have to pass a certain bar to establish legal standing, and if you don’t pass that bar your case gets thrown out. These laws essentially skip that part by giving blanket legal standing. I don’t know if that would stand up in a higher court, but it’s a dangerous precedent that they’re establishing.
You don't need express "legal standing" to sue. At most it might prevent the odd case from being summarily thrown out and prolong the inevitable. Like I said, from a legal standpoint this is mostly irrelevant, It's pure posturing – "someone could sue you" – which was already true. It changes nothing.
Yeah soon a Handmaid's Tale is going to be a documentary.
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.
I had multiple people tell me when Hobbs was decit that "it will be fine, they can just travel out of state"...
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.
Like the article says, this law is not about standing up in court, it's about "sending a signal" and spreading fear and confusion.
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.
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