One thing about me, I don’t mind admitting when I’m wrong. In a recent article I wrote about how, in the aftermath of the SCOTUS decision overturning abortion rights in the United States, GOP controlled legislatures were indulging in an almost piranha like feeding frenzy to create the most restrictive abortion laws. The problem was, legally they had more holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese.

I was wrong. As more news and reporting has come to light, I can see exactly where the flaw in my thinking was. I took for granted that after 50 years, the GOP legislatures got carried away, and inadvertently created laws full of legally dubious clauses. But the truth is much more devastating, and despicable.

The glaring loopholes in those state laws aren’t a bug, they’re a feature. After all, ask yourself a simple question. After a GOP controlled legislature passes another absurdly restrictive anti abortion law, what’s the first thing that happens? Pro abortion groups line up around the block to file state and federal cases in court to block the law. Sometimes injunctions are granted, sometimes not. But it always kicks off a 1-2 year tug-of-war in court.

Which is exactly what the GOP wants. Because it breeds insecurity. Hell, even Texas lawmakers didn’t think that their infamous SB-8 law, giving private citizens vigilante rights to sue people assisting in an abortion, without touching the woman, didn’t even think it was constitutional. But constitutionality wasn’t the point. It was always uncertainty.

If I’m a cabbie or an Uber driver, can I get sued for $10 grand for giving a woman a ride to the abortion clinic? Hell, if I’m a friend or family member, can I be on the hook for $10 grand for giving her a ride, or the money for the abortion? If I’m a woman, exactly what are my rights in this godforsaken state? Who knows? Because it’s all caught up in the maze of the state and federal judiciary system.

It doesn’t have to be illegal, it just has to be too dangerous personally. There are reports that there are hospitals in states where abortion is legal that are scaling back their abortion services simply because they fear possible repercussions from neighboring states where abortion is illegal. They aren’t versed in the laws of neighboring states. And it scares them shitless.

That’s the GOP’s plan right there. It doesn’t have to be illegal, it just has to be untouchable. And right now it’s working. The solution? Vote your ass off Democratic, and give us enough loyal pro choice Democrats in the Senate to blow up the filibuster, and enshrine women’s rights. Nothing else matters.

 

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3 COMMENTS

  1. This is not a scenario that I had contemplated. I just accepted the current conventional wisdom that the cruelty was the point. But those two viewpoints are not mutually exclusive. That’s why we need to hold the house and increase the senate, while not neglecting state lege races, so that we can pass a national Roe law and reinstate reproductive rights and let SCROTUS in a couple years try and overturn it. Hopefully by then, we’ll have expanded the court and that won’t be a worry.

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