Why the law against Texas abortion is considered the strictest of the United States Aldia-Dallas-Horiz TDMN

Austin, Texas — El hecho de que la Corte Suprema haya respaldado una nueva ley de Texas que prohíbe la mayoría de los abortos representa la mayor restricción a este derecho constitucional en décadas, y los republicanos de otros estados ya están sopesando aplicar medidas similares.

Texas's law prohibits abortions from being carried out once doctors detect fetal heartbeat, which usually occurs at six weeks of gestation, before many women have noticed that they are pregnant.Courts have prevented other states from imposing similar restrictions, but Texas's law differs significantly because it leaves the application in the hands of citizens through civil lawsuits instead of resorting to prosecutors.

Lea también: Gobierno federal lanzará ofensiva tras fallo de la Corte Suprema sobre ley de aborto en Texas, anuncia Biden

This is a look at what you have to know about the new Texas Law that entered into force on Tuesday, whereby abortion clinics in neighboring states have already reported an increase in the number of Texans seeking to submit to the procedure:

It allows any citizen to demand suppliers of Texas abortions to break the law, as well as any person who "helps or instigates" a woman to submit to the procedure.However, patients who abort cannot be sued.

The law does not make exceptions for rape or incest cases.The person who presents the demand - which should not necessarily have a link with the woman who submitted to the procedure - has the right to receive up to $ 10,000 for damages and prejudices if he wins in court.The Texas Right to Life, the largest abortion opposition group in the state, launched a website to receive clues about alleged violations and pointed out that it already has ready lawyers to file demands.

The main difference is the application mechanism.Texas's law relies on citizens who demand abortions for alleged violations.Other states have tried to assert their laws through government actions, such as criminal charges against doctors who carry out the procedure.

Texas is one of 14 states with laws that or prohibit abortion or prohibit it after eight weeks or less pregnancy.The courts have suspended other laws.Recently, a court blocked a new Arkansas law that would have prohibited all abortions unless it is necessary to save the mother's life in a medical emergency. Otras entidades con leyes bloqueadas que prohíben los abortos en las primeras etapas del embarazo son: Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Luisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee y Utah.

Lea también: ¿A dónde pueden viajar las mujeres texanas si quieren un aborto?

Texas has been an important battlefield around law and access to abortion, including a 2013 law that closed more than half of the more than 40 clinics that carry out abortions in the state before the CourtSupreme will block it.

Emboldened by the victories achieved in the 2020 elections, the Republicans responded this year with an extreme right agenda that included flexible the arms laws and a greater hardening to which they are already some of the most strict electoral laws of the country.The groups that oppose abortion said that the new law was a response to frustration for the refusal of prosecutors to implement other abortion restrictions that were already in force.

Before Republican governor Greg Abbott promulgated the law in May, the voters of Lubbock, Texas, approved an ordinance that also intended to prohibit the interruption of pregnancy in the city by allowing relatives to demand an abortions provider.

The action of the Supreme Court does not restore any abortion law annulled in other states.But "in essence, the highest court in the country has given other states a guide to restrict.

In fact, some Republican legislators are already talking about following the example.

In Arkansas, the Republican state senator Jason Rapert tweeted on Thursday that he planned to present a bill similar to the Texas Law so that the Legislature submits it to analysis when it meets again in autumn.But it is not clear if that will be allowed, because the agenda of the session is currently limited to the redistribution of Congress districts and the proposals related to COVID-19.

In Mississippi, Republican state senator Chris McDaniel said Thursday that he would "totally" the possibility of presenting an initiative that resembles the Texas Law.

"I think that most conservative states in the south will observe this inaction by the Court (Supreme) and may consider it an opportunity to advance this issue," said McDaniel.

The Mississippi Legislature plans to start meeting in January.The Supreme Court will hear the allegations this fall on a law of that state of 2018 that would prohibit most of the abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a case that is a direct challenge to the decriminalization of abortion.

Some states have already resorted to citizens for the application of new laws.

A Missouri law that entered into force last week allows citizens to demand local police agencies whose agents consciously apply any federal weapons law.Police departments can face fines of up to $ 50,000 for each case.The law was backed by Republicans who fear that the government of Democratic President Joe Biden could implement restrictive weapons policies.

In Kansas, a new law arising from frustration for restrictions against coronavirus allows residents to submit demands by challenging the orders of use of masks and the limits to public meetings imposed by counties.Last month, the Kansas Supreme Court allowed the law to be implemented while analyzing an appeal to a ruling from a minor court that declared it unconstitutional.

Last year, Utah also adopted a similar strategy on pornography, approving a law that allows citizens to demand websites not to show a warning on the effects that “obscene materials” have on minors in minors.Although adult entertainment groups indicated that it was a violation of freedom of expression, many sites have complied with the law to avoid the expense of a possible avalanche of judicial challenges.

For a long time, citizens who present their own demands are an element of environmental law and the rights of people with disabilities, said Travis Brandon, an attached professor at the Belmont University Law Faculty.Environmental groups, for example, help to establish demands against businesses accused of violating federal operation permits for polluting companies.

In California, proposition 65 allows people who could have been exposed to potentially carcinogenic materials to submit their own demands and collect a kind of “reward” if they win.However, these laws are different, in the sense that, in general, people must demonstrate that they have been directly affected by an infraction to the law, a characteristic that is missing in the new Texas measure, said Brandon.

Gives life.Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri.The Associated Press Andrew Testle Rock journalists at Little Rock, Arkansas;Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas;Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, and Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City contributed to this office.