Once again, the United States show us how contradictory and opposite can be one State with the other. A Middle Age tradition has been reborn in Texas last month: ‘bounty hunters’. They had long disappeared but the practice is now linked to abortion in this republican and conservative State.
On the 1st of September 2021, a rather restrictive Texan law came into effect limiting abortion to the 6th week of abortion, when most women do not even know about it, let alone had the time to make an informed decision. The law also pushes citizens to denounce - against reward - those who have helped women abort. Two days later, Joe Biden said he found it was ‘almost un-American’, deploring this encouragement to whistle-blowing.
The law distinguishes itself from any other as it is based exclusively on citizens’ actions to denounce others. Concretely, the text encourages a citizen to pursue one or multiple others on civil court on the base that they have helped women aborting after 6 weeks of pregnancy. The ones concerned by such motives can go from doctors, to the driver taking the woman to the clinic or even close ones helping her paying for the procedure.
In case of conviction, the reward to the citizen who denounced would be at least $10K (around €8.5K) as compensation.
Next June, the Supreme Court should have given its ruling on the State law, yet it only took them a few days. They announced having refused to block this law.
The Federal American justice considers that it is directly linked to women’s right to privacy and should be legal in every state to abort during the first 13 weeks of pregnancy (first trimester). Therefore in 1973 was voted a Supreme Court law which is protected by the Fourth Amendment. However, the Supreme Court have given the States the right to reasonable restrictions. In consequence, almost 500 restrictions have risen from all States, some making it illegal after 6 weeks like Texas, disregarding the initial law and threatening women’s rights in the US.
In 1973, the Roe v. Wade decision marked the American debate on abortion and its legalization, but also the role of the American Supreme Court, as well as views on the place of religion in the political sphere. Roe v. Wade became one of the most politically important Supreme Court decisions, dividing the United States into pro-choice and pro-life.
Already, associations are calling for anonymously denouncing those who help or support women seeking abortions and conservative officials from other American states have said they want to follow the Texan example…
Article by Juliette Blanca
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