The blow has been definitive and closes the little hope that the voluntary interruption of pregnancy clinics in the State of Texas had of reversing a law that practically prohibits de facto abortion. Last Friday, the Supreme Court of that State ratified the law approved in September 2021 that prevents the termination of a pregnancy from the moment cardiac activity of the fetus is registered, a period around six months of gestation. The ruling was unanimous in a court made up of supporters of the conservative Republican Party.
“It’s over, this case is definitely over with respect to our challenge to the abortion ban,” Marc Hearron, a lawyer for the Center for Reproductive Rights, who led the challenge against the Texas law, known as the law of the beat de Texas [Texas heartbeat, como se llama a la norma Senate Bill 8 (S.B. 8) en referencia a la supuesta pulsión del feto]. The decision by the supreme justices means that one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country remains in place as the US Supreme Court weighs the future of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion.
One of the most controversial points of the norm, and for what had been brought before the Supreme Court, is that it prevents law enforcement from falling on the authorities. Instead, the responsibility has been delegated to ordinary citizens, so that they, regardless of whether they live in the State of Texas, sue anyone who “helps or is an accomplice” in an abortion beyond six o’clock in civil proceedings. gestation weeks. This includes paying or reimbursing the cost of the intervention. If the lawsuit is successful, the whistleblower may receive $10,000 to cover her legal damages.
Friday’s events give even more oxygen to other Republican-controlled states that are now pushing similar laws, including neighboring Oklahoma, where many Texas women have crossed state lines for abortions over the past six months. The Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate passed half a dozen anti-abortion measures Thursday, including a Texas-style ban.
BREAKING: A Texas court has issued a statewide ruling blocking the state of Texas from investigating families with trans youth.
We will continue to fight with trans youth, their parents and their doctors until all trans people are affirmed and have access to the care they need.
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 12, 2022
Also in Texas, the decision of a judge who this week has blocked the investigations that were being carried out on the parents of transgender minors has been in the news, stopping for the moment a controversial rule by the governor of the southern United States state, Greg Abbott. “Victory,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) tweeted. “A judge has blocked Governor Greg Abbott’s illegal actions targeting essential health care for transgender youth,” she added on social media.
Judge Amy Clark ruled that Abbott’s directive was unconstitutional, stating that transgender minors and their parents would suffer “imminent and irreparable harm” if the directive was not stopped, the newspaper reported. Houston Chronicle. Abbott issued the order last month for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate cases of minors receiving gender-affirming medication and “sex change procedures,” which “constitute abuse of minors, according to current Texas law,” the governor alleged.
Gender-affirming medicines for transgender minors, as well as the participation of transgender athletes in sports competitions or the use of toilets in accordance with their gender identity, is the subject of extensive debate in the United States, where many conservative states have mobilized to adopt restrictive measures.
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