Now that the Supreme Court has refused to intervene and halt the Texas abortion law from going into effect, we can safely assume that other Republican-controlled states will likely follow suit with similar laws. It is disgusting that the legislators and the governor feel like they have the right to dictate the terms of an individual woman’s right to be responsible for her own reproductive health, but the scariest part of this law is the provision that allows any citizen to bring a law suit against anyone they suspect of violating the provisions of this law. That includes, for example, anyone driving a woman to an abortion provider. And these ordinary citizens are promised a payout of at least $10,000 if they win their case.
One can just imagine a whole new legal specialty cropping up where lawyers will file these suits right and left just to get a piece of the action. Even if someone was actually driving another person to the grocery store and some zealous vigilante pro-life citizen accuses of them of going to an abortion clinic, the person will have to potentially defend themselves in court. How many ordinary citizens have money just sitting around to pay for legal expenses due to some frivolous accusation? This smacks a lot like the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693 in which 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 20 were actually executed. With a $10,000 payday (or perhaps ‘bounty’ is a better word) out there, how many people do you believe will be falsely accused in Texas? Or now that any Tom, Dick or Harry can carry a weapon in Texas, perhaps the vigilantes will just shoot those that they believe are breaking their interpretation of the law.
This is very dangerous ground we are on. Now that the Supreme Court has refused to weigh in on this Texas abortion law, what is to keep Texas or other states from using this novel legal approach to enact other laws designed to skirt Federal statutes and use implicitly deputized citizens to enforce those laws. Is it possible that some zealous state attorney general, in concert with a Republican-controlled legislature and Republican governor, could try to enact laws discriminating against members of the LGBTQ community, people of color or followers of religions other than Christianity, and use citizens to enforce these new laws? Of course, most of us, would respond that isn’t possible because all of those groups are protected by Federal statutes. Access to abortion is protected under Federal statute – and they found a way around that, with the help of our Supreme Court.
The part of this law that concerns me the most is the empowerment of ordinary, and now armed, citizens to ‘enforce’ this law. Is this the beginning of the Republican’s version of the infamous Brown Shirts made famous in the leadup to World War II in Nazi Germany? Imagine for a second what is likely to occur in the 2022 elections in Texas. Under the new election law partisan poll watchers will be able to have virtually unimpeded access to polling places. It is a sure bet that many of these individuals will be armed. Do you really think there will be no instances of voter intimidation – or worse under the guise that these armed, partisan citizens are simply enforcing the law.
And since under the new law, even if there are allegations of voting irregularity, the legislature can intervene and assume control of the election from the officials normally charged with administering elections and counting the votes. Given that the Republicans control Texas, what do you think will happen if it appears a Democratic candidate is going to win a critical election? There will no doubt be allegations of voting irregularities which will allow the Republicans to force the outcome they want. And if there are protests against such action, one can only imagine that the already emboldened and well-armed citizens that are being asked to enforce the abortion law, would be called upon to back such a Republican decision to overturn an election. It is a recipe for violence and we have seen it before.
To make matters even worse, while we are squandering resources and tying up the court system with issues like abortion and voting restrictions, the infrastructure in this country continues to crumble, the country is getting ravaged by extreme weather events due to climate change and thousands of Americans are dying needlessly due to a pandemic fraught with misinformation and politics. I think there is a saying that is quite fitting for what is going on in Texas and most other Republican-controlled states, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.”