Texas’ new anti-abortion law is utter madness. It has opened up a serious can of worms, and not just because health care providers dare not perform abortions for fear of being harshly fined. Even if you don’t like abortion, you should hate and fear this law. Why? First, it legitimizes vigilantism. Second, it is the camel’s nose in the tent. If Texas can get away with offering bounties for turning in people who provide or aid and abet abortions, how much longer before similar laws do the same for non-binary sex, or undocumented immigrants, or supporting genuine science, or bashing the Dallas Cowboys?
S.B. 8 is absolute. There are no loopholes to allow exceptions in case of rape or incest, only for medical emergencies. And how will women be able to prove a medical emergency? No doubt many will try this route, only to get a beaurocratic runaround. Also, any attempt to get this exemption will expose them to Fetus Vigilantes hungry for payouts.
You know that people are going to abuse this law. Hate your neighbors? Claim that the Ms. was planning to have an abortion. Hey, you saw her drive past a Planned Parenthood facility or OB/GYN office! She was definitely contemplating the procedure, or maybe she dropped off a friend for one. Since anybody who is at all involved in an abortion can be sued, even someone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or says the wrong thing within earshot of the wrong person, will be in peril.
This law will bring out the worst in a lot of people, resulting in witch hunts and persecution on an unfathomable scale. The fact that people can snitch anonymously, and that their evidence can be very flimsy, makes it all the more dangerous. Encouraging people to squeal on their neighbors is a tactic that oppressive regimes use to keep the masses in line.
S.B. 8 means that, if a creep rapes a woman, he can claim she sought an abortion – even if she didn’t get pregnant – and get his 10-train bounty from her. So, the more women he prongs, the more lucre he can potentially collect. A lovely way to make a living. Or, a fellow could try to blackmail a woman or girl he wants to hump by threatening to report her, giving her a choice of possibly forking over 10 biggies – and exposing her to persecution by anti-choice activists – or spreading her legs. S.B. 8 glorifies the worst aspects of toxic masculinity.
And what about women who suffer miscarriages? What if they didn’t kiss the right arses and are accused of attempting abortion? A miscarriage is tragic enough; adding on prosecution for a crime that never even happened is cruel beyond cruel.
What if somebody can’t pay the bounty? A lot of people don’t have an extra 10 grand lying around. What if the person forced to pay up is living paycheck to paycheck? Can employers garnish the checks of such people – thus making it even harder to pay the bills, keep up with rent, and feed the family? People in desperate circumstances will do terrible things, which I need not list here.
Meanwhile, Governor Abbott has banned mask mandates intended to stem the spread of COVID-19, and also signed legislation that removed the requirement to have a license in order to own a firearm. In other words, Texas values only the lives of embryos and fetuses. Once you’re born, tough noogies – you have to run a gauntlet of dangerous viruses and armed bugnuts.
Already people are fighting back, and happily they are doing so with creative nonviolence. The “squeal” page set up by Texas Right to Life has become a target for phony reports and furry porn, and while writing this I learned that GoDaddy has closed down the site. Activists are organizing marches and protests around the country. Petitions by the busload are making the rounds demanding protection for reproductive freedom.
This evil must be squelched before it spreads to other states – or worse, becomes national law. We need to get progressive people registered to vote. We need to expand the Supreme Court so Biden can add justices who will protect our rights. Because if we cannot stop the tide of fascism with ballots – no, please don’t go there, because then the only two paths are increasing oppression until we envy people in Communist China, or a revolution that will not be peaceful. We must fight back in every nonviolent, clever, and preferably legal way we can now.
