Mary Margaret Olohan, DCNF
Texas abortion groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state’s new law giving Americans the right to sue abortion clinics or individuals who help mothers obtain abortions within the state.
Whole Women’s Health and a number of Planned Parenthood affiliates and clinics filed the lawsuit Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, arguing that the Heartbeat Act (which the abortion providers refer to as Senate Bill 8) “flagrantly violates the constitutional rights of Texans seeking abortion and upends the rule of law in service of an anti-abortion agenda.”
“The Texas legislature’s well-documented hostility to the rights of pregnant people has gone to a new extreme,” the lawsuit said. The plaintiffs are represented by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR).
“Not on our watch,” ACLU policy counsel and senior staff attorney Adriana Piñon said in a press release of the Texas law. “Anti-abortion politicians may think it can use Texans like pawns in their ideological and extremist fight. But we’re calling their bluff, and will do everything we can to stop this dangerous law.”
#BREAKING: We're suing #Texas. Joined by Whole Woman's Health (@wholewomans) and a broad coalition of abortion providers and others who assist patients in accessing abortion, we’ve filed a lawsuit to block the state's radical new law banning abortion as early as six weeks. pic.twitter.com/zr5ocEG8xK
— Center for Reproductive Rights (@ReproRights) July 13, 2021
Texas’ Heartbeat Act, signed into law May 19, bans abortions after the unborn baby‘s heartbeat can be detected (usually by about six weeks) and makes exceptions for medical emergencies but not in cases of rape or incest.
The law gives private citizens both in and out of Texas the power to sue abortion clinics or individuals who help women obtain abortions, according to The Texas Tribune, making the law more difficult to challenge in court. It is scheduled to go into effect on September 1.
The abortion providers’ lawsuit argued that any “abusive partner, controlling parent, or disapproving neighbor” could target abortion doctors in court.
“It is unthinkable that anti-abortion extremists could be allowed to stand in the way of people accessing essential healthcare,” Melaney A Linton, president of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said in a statement to The Guardian.
“We’ve never seen a law like this,” CRR lead attorney Marc Hearron said during a Tuesday press call, according to the Guardian. “This is what Texas politicians wanted when they passed this law: to turn anti-abortion extremists into vigilantes with the power to police clinics, staff and their patient support systems. We have already seen the threats begin.”
For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- The Florida candidate laser-focused on eradicating horrific animal crimes - March 22, 2024
- Sabo: ‘Rush was our GOAT, there was no equal and he made it look easy’ - February 18, 2024
- Dana Bash appears to want to crawl out of her own skin when Ramaswamy ‘goes there’ on J6 - December 7, 2023
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
