Not just since your last period, but since it first started. You’re counted as pregnant while still actively menstruating. Which, like, if you’re giving birth, whatever, count from something, but for bullshit abortion restrictions is cause for some sideeye.
Why not both?
10K is just the minimum, so, a rich person could, at least theoretically, still get wrecked.
lol at someone calling it “free market snitching”
Oh thought it was 10k flat bounty
Tbh, I’m not 100% sure. I still haven’t read the text of the bill yet, but I saw that reported in a couple of places. Maybe someone else can confirm.
Also, it is not at all clear to me how damages to some unknown person are calculated, so I have no idea how you get above the 10K. Anyone know? The best I can come up with is some sort of severe emotional distress.
It’s 10k minimum.
Please. Rich people have means. This will overwhelmingly affect the poor
Also, say a woman finds out she’s 8 weeks pregnant. She travels out of state to have an abortion and returns. Aren’t there HIPPA laws? How would anyone in Texas be the wiser? Are they going to set up a team that pours over the medical data of every woman between the ages of 16 and 50?
But all this talk of law suits makes sense now. If anyone “suspected” that’s what she did, they could bring a civil suit and that would open all kinds of discovery I assume? The whole thing seems insane
Doesn’t matter. Rich people have ways of skirting laws if for no other reason than they can afford competent attorneys. But that’s just one reason
My guess is that in most cases the practical impact will be that the plaintiff just gets the $10k (and maybe legal fees) because the law has basically established that as the standard price. Then, perhaps the award goes up if the plaintiff has some close connection to the defendant so they can argue that there was greater harm. Or, maybe there is some way of arguing for punitive damages especially against a clinic or other helper organization that is providing access in some sort of routine, systemic way (as opposed to a one off scenario where someone just helped a friend one time)
This. Rich politicians still want to be able to send their daughters out of state to get abortions. They aren’t going to jeopardize that.
Have you ever lived in a small town? Word gets around and all it takes is one wrong person hearing the news. Especially think about a situation where the woman might have initially been happy with the pregnancy and she told people (or was far enough along to start showing), and then she changed her mind. When that baby doesn’t show up in a few months, someone might take notice. Remember, literally anyone can bring the lawsuit.
Obviously, not everyone will get sued and it’s not even clear that a suit would be successful… But, there is some risk and that is probably enough to deter some people, which is basically what the law is trying to do. Create enough uncertainty about who and what conduct is restricted under this law so that people who need assistance in getting an abortion find a lot less people willing to extend a helping hand.
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Not onion
I’ve never lived in a small town and honestly didn’t even think of that (shame on me)
Still seems awfully difficult to prove tho. Even if a woman is showing, what are they doing to do? Start forcing a blood test? Maybe she gained weight. Maybe she told people she was pregnant because she was embarrassed about gaining weight. This is why it won’t impact people of means with good lawyers
I suppose if she finds out she’s pregnant from a doctor in TX they’d have a record of it. But who’s to say she didn’t miscarry? Are they going to force medical examinations to prove it wasn’t a natural miscarriage? It all seems inane and ridiculous to me
I know Texas produces a lot of oil, but I for one, am going to do everything I can not to purchase another thing that’s manufactured in that state. I’ll become a vegetarian if I have to. People should leave that state in droves and boycott them out of existence imo. I know that’s a very shallow short term not so helpful way to look at it, but I’m pissed!
It is insane and ridiculous, but think of this on the other side. If you get pregnant and want an abortion what can you do? You can’t go to any medically licensed professional. Whatever you do is going to have to be done on your own, in secret. Even then if you want to get an abortion and someone gets wind of it, you’re going to be dragged into public court, be put on trial for being a whore with your name in the papers for months, and then ultimately acquitted
It is. And I think the answer to most of the questions you posed is that there will be a lot of situations where bringing a successful suit (particularly if the abortion happens out of state) will be difficult if not impossible but (a) it won’t stop all of the attempts to bring suits and (b) having to worry about a possible suit still sucks even if one isn’t filed (or if one is filed and you eventually win).
You’re basically nailing the big picture, imo, which is that thanks to SCOTUS and the Texas legislature we went from a situation that wasn’t perfect but was at least kinda stable to one that now has a lot more uncertainty and where the outcome is going to be based even more on individual circumstances (do you have $, a strong networks of friends and family, the time and knowledge to effectively research your options, etc.) than on the supposed principle that abortion is a constitutionally protected right.
The 2022 NCAA tournament is scheduled to have first/second round games in Fort Worth and regionals in San Antonio. The 2023 Final Four is supposed to be in Houston.
They took games out of North Carolina in the 2017 tournament because of the bathroom bill. People should similarly pressure them to leave Texas.
It’s not far-fetched to think that this law makes donations to Planned Parenthood close to illegal for Texas residents.
it doesn’t matter if you can prove it
the law provides a way to drag people into court and basically smother them with legal costs. that alone is enough to get providers to stop providing abortions, which is the goal. proving that any particular person did or did not have an abortion is completely irrelevant to these people.
you also seem to be missing the fact that under this law you don’t sue the woman who had the abortion, you sue the people who provided the abortion or means to obtain the abortion.