WLP senior staff attorney Susan J. Frietsche has described the radical new abortion ban in Texas—the one that deputizes private individuals to become volunteer detectives and investigate the reproductive systems of friends and strangers for a financial reward—as a about a big a warning of what’s to come that we could possibly imagine.
Right now, Governor Wolf’s veto pen is about the only thing that would stop a similar law from being passed into law in Pennsylvania.
Our new oped in the Philadelphia Inquirer outlines what you need to know:
As the clock ticked toward midnight the night before Texas Senate Bill 8 was to go into effect, Texans in need of abortion care packed the waiting room of Whole Woman’s Health, a health-care facility that provides abortion care in Fort Worth.
Physicians saw as many patients as possible while waiting to hear if the U.S. Supreme Court would respond to an emergency request to block the bill. If not, most abortions would be banned the next day. A woman dropped to her knees, begging to see a doctor as protesters surrounded the clinic with blaring bullhorns.
The Texas legislation is a six-week abortion ban that relies on antiabortion activists instead of police for enforcement. It incentivizes vigilantes to compete for a “not less than” $10,000 bounty via civil litigation for turning in any doctor suspected of providing a banned abortion and anyone who “aids or abets” a person who has one.
The parameters of “aids or abets” could be broadly interpreted to apply to ride-share drivers, priests, advocates, lawyers, and philanthropists who donate to pro-choice organizations. Can you be sued for knowing someone who had an abortion and not stopping them? Perhaps it applies to the guy who impregnated the patient then didn’t take steps to stop the abortion.
Reproductive control is an aspect of domestic abuse, and this bill encourages it. Senate Bill 8 isolates pregnant people at the moment they need support.
Read the rest of our new op-ed here.
So what can you do?
Stay loud about every single abortion restriction advancing in the Pennsylvania Legislature. Contact the sponsors and tell them you oppose. Contact your Representative and Senator. Post your thoughts on their social media pages.
Spread the word. Educate your friends. Pass on action alerts. Share information about what’s happening.
Work as hard as possible to elect a pro-choice governor next year.
Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing and defending the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in Pennsylvania and beyond. As a non-profit organization, we can not do this work without you. Please consider supporting our work.
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