Thread by @reappropriate

So talking a bit more about the nitty gritty of this TX law. It’s truly, truly, truly scary.

Note: I don’t have a law degree. My husband does, but not from TX. This is just us talking about the law as we understand it.

https://twitter.com/reappropriate/status/1433226959270592523

First things first: this is popularly being referred to as a 6-week abortion ban. Effectively yes, but it’s actually a ban on any abortion after a fetal “heartbeat” is detected. Typically, that occurs at 6 weeks, but can be detected earlier.

For my first pregnancy, for example, which was accomplished with incredible fertility clinic support (and so far and above more than one’s typical prenatal screenings), we detected a “heartbeat” at 5 weeks to confirm my pregnancy was present.

So, like 6 weeks is still just an average. You actually could have less time under TX’s law.

What’s more draconian is that a “heartbeat” (fetuses don’t have hearts at this stage so this is a bit of a misnomer) is basically the only indicator of a viable pregnancy at this stage. In other words, the same thing used to detect a pregnancy is being used to ban abortion.

You really can’t seek an abortion before confirming a pregnancy first. This is one of the major metrics used at this stage to confirm a pregnancy. So you have literally NO window to seek an abortion bc before this you just wouldn’t know you’re pregnant.

“But home tests…!”

Home hcg tests are a first line because so many pregnancies spontaneously miscarry between when a home test shows a positive and when a pregnancy is confirmed. The next step is ALWAYS to confirm the home test through an ultrasound (& “heartbeat”) at 8-10 wks.

So like let me reiterate: it is basically impossible to get an abortion under this law because of how early a fetal “heartbeat” is detectable by ultrasound and how its detection is a routine part of confirming a pregnancy in the first place.

And this is even putting aside the difficulty for most pregnant people to get an appt for an ultrasound before 8 weeks. Most of the time, it takes weeks to get an appt and most routine pregnancies are only confirmed somewhere in the 8-10 week range — or later!

By the way, what does a fetus look like by ultrasound at 5 weeks? Like six pulsating pixels on the side of a slightly bigger hollow ring (which is the embryonic sac). It’s not like there’s this little tiny baby-shaped thing. It is LITERALLY a cluster of cells you can’t really see

Ok, second thing: how does this law work? Well it functions by opening up anyone who helps a person seek an abortion to legal liability in civil courts, regardless of the plaintiff’s standing.

In lay terms, it means that anyone even tangentially related to helping a person seek an abortion can be sued by basically anybody.

This is truly crass misuse of civil courts to ban abortions through harassing lawsuits that by design will disproportionately impact the poor.

My partner likened it to that storyline in the West Wing when all the main characters were facing charges of conspiracy. This was kinda scary for most of the characters, but devastating for Dule Hill’s character who couldn’t afford cost of retaining a lawyer to protect himself.

In the same way, the impact of this law is actually to target & harass low-income ppl who work to support reproductive care access. The nurses. The receptionists. The volunteers who walk patients from the parking lot. The people who can’t afford to respond to a million lawsuits.

Wealthy patients who need abortion care will be able to go to another state. Wealth(ier) doctors and large non-profits can raise the funds for legal defense. The people who will be devastated by this are 1) low-income people who need abortions bc and 2) lower-income support staff

Most of those folks who will be most vulnerable under this law are going to be folks of color.

This law is basically designed to create a cottage industry of weaponizing the civil courts through a barrage of lawsuits targeting lower-income people and other marginalized folks without the resources to withstand a legal assault.

It is designed to make it impossible to work in a job associated with reproductive healthcare because you can’t afford the legal fees of responding to lawsuits because you’re just doing your job. It is designed to shut down clinics by harassing their support staff thru the courts

This is literally the death of reproductive care in Texas by a thousand paper cuts.

So, let’s be clear - this law’s primary target are working class and poor people. This law functions by creating an industry for anti-abortion lawyers to get rich by harassing working class and poor people who work in or need reproductive care.

Lastly, and this is the head scratcher for my law-trained partner: this law basically upends all conventional understanding with regard to the concept of legal standing.

Anyone can sue anyone, even if they don’t have to demonstrate direct connection or material harm? The fuck?

We’re still trying to parse what that really means, but it just like… is one of the more baffling parts of this law.

To me it says that the goal of this law isn’t actually to get remedy to injured parties through the courts. No, this law is specifically designed to create harassment, not find some kind of justice. It’s designed to use the courts to hurt people.

So yeah, there’s a lot going on here beneath the surface. Please give a shit about this.