The Supreme Court green-lights a near-total abortion ban in Texas
Senate Bill 8 provides bounties for people to sue anyone who plays even a bit part in aiding an abortion
AT TWO MINUTES to midnight on September 1st, when the Supreme Court quietly let Senate Bill 8 go into effect, Texas became the most inhospitable state for a woman seeking an abortion. Challengers may still press their case. But in the meantime Senate Bill 8 prohibits abortion when a fetal heartbeat begins, at about six weeks’ gestation, and makes no exception for women who were impregnated via incest or rape. The law’s great peculiarity, though, is its enforcement mechanism, which is outsourced to anyone who espies someone “aiding or abetting” an abortion.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Roe on the ropes”
United States September 4th 2021
- How damaging has the Afghanistan withdrawal been to Joe Biden?
- Will America’s next war be declared by Congress or the president?
- The Supreme Court green-lights a near-total abortion ban in Texas
- Rural Colorado hopes to cash in on its dark skies
- American philanthropy turns left
- Storms and fires will not bring an escape from America’s stuck climate politics
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