Pro-abortion activists lose their minds over Texas ‘heartbeat’ bill
The Texas Heartbeat Act, or SB8, bans most abortions after a fetal heartbeats can be detected, which usually occurs around the sixth week of pregnancy.
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The Texas Heartbeat Act, or SB8, bans most abortions after a fetal heartbeats can be detected, which usually occurs around the sixth week of pregnancy.
In response to the United States Supreme Court's decision not to block the Texas Heartbeat Act, pro-abortion activists and pundits lost their minds on Twitter and demanded civil disobedience, as well as the right to selective abortion.
Black Lives Matter activist Bree Newsome called for people to "engage in mass civil disobedience" over the passing of the law, adding that "we've never secured rights or freedoms by solely relying on the laws as they exist."
Folks have to be prepared to engage in mass civil disobedience. I don’t know what else to tell you. Not saying it’s easy, but you’ve got to understand we’ve never secured rights or freedoms by solely relying on the laws as they exist.
— Vaccinated?Masked?Praying for the World???? (@BreeNewsome)
The Texas Heartbeat Act, or SB8, bans most abortions after a fetal heartbeats can be detected, which usually occurs around the sixth week of pregnancy. It also allows civil lawsuits to be brought against those that perform or aid in abortions, like doctors or donors.
In the Supreme Court's ruling, the Justices noted the odd fact that the state itself would not be enforcing the law, rather these citizens would be the ones doing it.
"The State has represented that neither it nor its executive employees possess the authority to enforce the Texas law either directly or indirectly," states Sotomayor's dissent.
Justice Sotomayor: “ … A majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand … Taken together, the Act is a breathtaking act of defiance—of the Constitution, of this Court’s precedents, and of the rights of women seeking abortions throughout Texas.”
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche)
Author Majid M. Padellan noted that a website has been set up to anonymously send in tips about those that break this law, requesting that people go crash the website with false information.
The website that Texas is using for people to snitch on Women seeking abortions is:https://t.co/ktapwulUaR
You can help crash this website by entering bullshit info.
RT to make Good Trouble.#TexasTaliban
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan)
Richard Hanania, president of The Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, made note of the rate of abortions post-Down Syndrome diagnosis of a fetus and how this diagnosis doesn't usually come before the tenth week. He also questioned what sort of spike Texas would see in babies born with Down Syndrome in the wake of this law being passed. Iceland has nearly eliminated abortion through selective abortion.
You can’t screen for Down syndrome before about 10 weeks, and something like 80% of Down syndrome fetuses are aborted. If red states ban abortion, we could see a world where they have five times as many children with Down syndrome, and similar numbers for other disabilities.
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania)
Will they maintain their belief in a small safety net and lower government spending in such a world? Would liberals change their minds about government spending if it ends up going to states that have much higher costs due to these laws? Many interesting things to think about.
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania)
About half of Americans call themselves pro-life, but close to 80% choose to terminate a pregnancy after a Down syndrome diagnosis. When it comes to their own lives, most don’t want to live by the rules they’d force on others.
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania)
Former Texas State Senator Wendy Davis said she is "mourning" and angry following the Supreme Court's ruling.
A thread.
Today, like many of my fellow Texans, I feel a tremendous sense of mourning accompanied by an indescribable rage.
— Wendy Davis (@wendydavis)
A defendant could be an intake person at a clinic or a medical professional, the volunteers who help assure safety of those seeking abortion from an ever emboldened group of anti-abortion activists, and on and on and on.
— Wendy Davis (@wendydavis)
I mourn for women who are already challenged to provide for the children they already have -- many who are single moms working for a minimum wage that makes housing and adequate food unsustainable.
— Wendy Davis (@wendydavis)
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Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez used the ruling to advocate once again for the banning of filibustering, a tactic which House Democrats themselves have used in the past.
Republicans promised to overturn Roe v Wade, and they have.
Democrats can either abolish the filibuster and expand the court, or do nothing as millions of peoples’ bodies, rights, and lives are sacrificed for far-right minority rule.
This shouldn’t be a difficult decision. https://t.co/GcEjkxt3gs
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC)
President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Sherrilyn Ifill wrote that the law's use of civilian lawsuits would be similar to voter intimidation, and part of "what could not be accomplished by regular channels of democratic engagement."
It’s critical to understand the TX law b/c it is part of a desperate effort to do by harassment, intimidation, & menacing what could not be accomplished by regular channels of democratic engagement. It is of a piece w/recent voter suppression bills and anti-truth school bd mobs.
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF)
Georgia’s new voter suppression allows any voter to make unlimited “challenges” against the legitimacy of other voters. Unlimited. Even though in Nov 20 there were 360,000 challenges w/only a score of ballots found to be illegitimate. https://t.co/T1E8drxGsl
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF)
The school bd mob scenes are of a piece with this. Activating mobs - even small ones - to intimidate, disrupt, & harass is effective & the alternative to actually winning the votes of school bd members w/legitimate debate and facts. School bd members are resigning in exhaustion.
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF)
A transgender woman by the name of Madeline Maye wrote that despite being a trans woman, the law still affects her despite biologically not being able to get pregnant.
Wait, why can’t she get pregnant? pic.twitter.com/E4kIlw1JWm
— David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi)