Texas, the epicenter of America's war on abortion

Women's protest on Sept. 1 in Austin, Texas, over the abortion ban.Jay Janner / AP

This Saturday morning a lonely man was praying with a rosary in front of a deserted abortion clinic in a northern suburb of Austin, the capital of Texas. "I am praying that abortions end in the United States," said Oscar González, 54, a member of the Catholic movement 40 days for life. The man, in gentle ways like those of a southern priest, says "happy" because of the entry into force of the law that prohibits abortion from six weeks of gestation in the second most populous state in the country, with 30 millions of inhabitants. "Is incredible. Now we have the

law of the beating of Texas

[

Texas heartbeat

, as the standard Senate Bill 8 (SB 8) is called in reference to the supposed drive of the fetus]. It is a sign that by controlling the language we can advance a lot in this cause, "he adds, smiling.

The clinic in front of which González prays his prayers is deserted. These sites have become the stage for the war that conservatives have waged against women's bodies. On the door of Whole Women's Health there is a sign that is forced to explain that "abortion is still legal in Texas." The organization litigated for the Supreme Court to stop its entry into force, but most conservative justices avoided blocking it on Tuesday. “It is one of the most extreme, radical and unjust abortion bans this country has ever seen. The law does not represent the majority of Texans and is simply unconstitutional, ”the clinic informs its patients. Along with this communication, another sign prevents entering the clinic armed, one of the freedoms guaranteed in the State.

Women's health centers have been organizing for some days to continue operating while complying with the new law, which is believed to affect between 85% and 90% of abortions performed in Texas.

Most of the 35 clinics in the state extended their hours prior to September 1, the date on which the ban came into effect, to serve more patients.

"In some centers, information is being offered on resources in other states to access an abortion," says Alejandra Soto, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood, another reproductive health organization that is grappling with the law while offering services such as testing for transmitted infections. sexual and contraceptives.

More information

• Joe Biden Claims Texas Near-Total Abortion Ban Violates US Constitution

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Soto explains that in recent days supporters of the so-called pro-life movement have come to their clinics in the state to take videos and photographs of those who come to the centers. One of the most controversial points of the rule is that it prevents enforcement from falling on the authorities. Instead, the responsibility has been delegated to ordinary citizens, so that these, regardless of whether they live in the State of Texas, sue anyone who “helps or is complicit” in an abortion after six o'clock. gestation weeks. This includes paying or reimbursing the cost of the intervention. If the lawsuit is successful, the complainant can receive $ 10,000 to cover his legal damages. Defendants do not receive this monetary support if they win in court.

"It's nauseating what's going on," says 42-year-old Susan. This Austin-born woman is angry about the rule taking effect. After reading in the newspapers that many religious are harassing employees and women in clinics, he has gone out to confront them. “I have a 22-year-old daughter and I don't think any of these people know anything about the decision-making process that women must go through,” she says outside one of the Austin clinics.

The rule is "an attack on the jurisprudence on abortion," says Jack Balkin, professor of Constitutional Law at Yale.

The specialist affirms that the way in which the law is written, especially the part that prevents the authorities from pursuing the suspects, "is an attempt to isolate an obviously unconstitutional law from a review of the federal courts."

Some Supreme Court judges, who did not comment on the unconstitutionality of the rule, described it as "unusual and unprecedented."

University girls protest against the abortion veto inside the Capitol in Austin, Texas, on September 1, DPA via Europa Press / Europa Press

SB 8 is the most recent tab of the Conservative movement in an open war against Roe v. Wade, the emblematic Supreme Court ruling that protects the right to decide of women since 1973. The conservative wave encouraged by the rise of Donald Trump to power multiplied the attempts to overthrow this law. “So far this year there have been about 600 restrictions on abortion in more than 45 states. About 90 have been approved, "they point out from Planned Parenthood. "The wave could gain momentum with this law, the most extreme of all, and clearly part of a political agenda to annul abortion altogether," says Soto.

Women's sexual rights movements believe that the great litmus test of Roe v.

Wade will arrive in the next few months, when the Supreme Court, who received three right-wing justices during Trump's presidency, must review a Mississippi law prohibiting abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy in a direct confrontation with the progressive ruling that will turning 50 years old.

This essential ruling for the future of abortion in the United States is expected in mid-2022.

Obstacles to the centers

The rule, which was approved in May by the Republican majority in the Texas Legislature, which has only 27% female congressmen, did not come out of nowhere. The hit has been cooking for a long time. Republicans, who have ruled the state since 1995, have been on a legal crackdown on abortion for years. In 2013 they approved an initiative that required clinics to have the conditions of a hospital: special pipes for anesthesia, meticulous specifications for the rooms and a minimum number of nurses. In addition, the doctors who performed the procedure had to have an office in a hospital less than 50 kilometers from the clinic. These requirements made the State, the second largest in the country after Alaska, to go from having 40 centers to 19. Abortions performed in the state fell by 13%.The Supreme Court overturned the rule three years later in an important ruling, but the composition of the Court was different at that time.

The scandal that has prompted the entry into force of SB 8 overshadowed another severe measure taken by lawmakers. The Senate has passed a rule that will prohibit doctors from prescribing pills to patients who are more than seven weeks pregnant. The current legislation, however, allows them up to 10 weeks. The rule awaits the signature of Governor Greg Abbott to go into effect.

Governor Abbott also decreed at the beginning of the pandemic the suspension of any surgical intervention that was not "immediately necessary", which translated into an almost total suspension of abortions for just over a month. Whole Woman's Health had to cancel 200 appointments in that period. All of these attempts over the years have been successful. The State went from having 72,470 abortions in 2011 to 55,400 in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which specializes in reproductive rights.

Only in this week, the State has consolidated a turn to the extreme right. Not only with the passage of one of the strictest laws on termination of pregnancy. Likewise, a rule came into force that allows residents to carry firearms in public without the need for a permit. And a series of measures that make it more difficult to participate in the elections were also recently voted on.

Anne Richards was the second governor of Texas and the last Democrat to come to power in the state. In a campaign debate in February 1990, she was questioned about an initiative that would ban abortion for women under 17 years of age. On television, Richards said he would veto the rule. "No legislator, judge or bureaucrat has to determine whether a woman has an abortion or not," he said at the event. Her daughter, Cecile Richards, was president of Planned Parenthood for a decade, until 2018, from where she defended the right of women to decide. Texas, however, has gone in the opposite direction.