The following is the Secular Coalition for America's statement on Texas' latest anti-abortion law.
Dear Friend,
For five decades it has been established law that the Constitution guarantees the right to privacy and that right, as Justice Harry Blackmun wrote, “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” It is also accepted law that abortion is legal in most states until the age of viability, between 24 and 28 weeks, or in some states 20 weeks. This spring the Texas legislature lived up to people’s expectations by passing a law that makes abortion illegal after six weeks, which is therefore unconstitutional.
The Legislature included a novel and reprehensible enforcement mechanism by leaving state officials who would normally be involved in the process and therefore subject to an injunction, out of the process. Instead, a mercenary army of citizens is now empowered to sue any doctor providing abortion services after the six week limit, or to sue anyone who “aids and abets” in the process; a parent, a school counselor, an Uber driver, for example. A successful plaintiff/informant would receive $10,000 plus court costs. So the state legislature passed a law that replaces state enforcement of the law with private enforcement, which is not how we usually do things in this country. The idea that a server at a restaurant who overhears a conversation about an abortion can sue the people involved is also an unusual approach to the right to privacy.
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