Everything’s bigger in Texas, which goes for efforts to ban abortion, too. A valedictorian recently switched out her speech to call out lawmakers’ successful efforts to almost completely ban the medical practice, after Ted Cruz called to ban the abortion pill last year. Cruz must be very pleased with the situation and his state (maybe he won’t jet off to Cancun again anytime soon), but the resulting problem is a dire one. Texas has effectively banned abortions after six weeks (without exceptions for rape or incest).
Not only that, but the state now allows any private citizen to sue someone (including abortion doctors or anyone who even gives a patient a ride to a clinic) who assists a woman in getting an abortion. This makes Texas very much a state that both supports the freedom to do with one’s body regarding masks and denies the freedom to do with one’s body regarding a woman’s right to choose. It’s a blatant attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade and Griswold v. Connecticut that has been upheld by the Supreme Court. It’s pretty much up to the states to make the call on abortions from here on out, and let’s just say that the comparisons to Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu are easy to draw.
Good morning, Texas… 😣 #underhiseye pic.twitter.com/iIVbbCELKN
— Nope. (@JoyAnnReid) September 1, 2021
Several Democratic lawmakers (and Rachel Maddow) have spoken out about the potentially unconstitutional nature of the near-total abortion ban.
Texas SB8 will impair women's access to health care and, outrageously, deputizes private citizens to sue those they believe helped another person get a banned abortion.
It's a blatant violation of the right established under Roe V. Wade. We will protect and defend that right.
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 1, 2021
Nearly half a century ago, the Supreme Court affirmed abortion as a constitutional right. This Supreme Court's refusal to overturn Texas’ law banning abortion is outrageous. Women get to control their bodies, not politicians and not judges.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 1, 2021
SCOTUS’s failure to block #SB8 has delivered catastrophe to women in Texas. This radical law is an all out effort to erase the rights and protections of Roe v Wade.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) September 1, 2021
What Texas has devised is a bizarre, dystopian vigilante system for hunting women in Texas who seek abortions. A vigilante system to effectively ban abortion and shut down all abortion providers in the state, not to mention terrorizing women who are seeking the procedure. pic.twitter.com/vfhtPy7AKR
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) September 1, 2021
Basic health care includes safe, legal abortion. The Texas abortion ban is an unconstitutional attack on reproductive rights—an attack happening all across America. Let’s be very clear: We’re going to fight this ban and defend #RoeVWade.https://t.co/DVZazBPlFg
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) September 1, 2021
This is not only very much a vigilante-type law (allowing private citizens to get in on the game, with monetary rewards) but also a scenario that mirrors what goes down in Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale. The Salem Witch Trials are also popping into conversation. People are outraged and afraid, and that’s more than fair.
I usually hate The Handmaid’s Tale comparisons, but at midnight tonight, individual Texans can rat out (and sue) people who do as much as drive someone to get an abortion—that feels adequately like Gilead.
People will die because of this law. Dark times.https://t.co/wJrYS1trai
— ashley fairbanks (@ziibiing) September 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1433048756396642307
The end of Roe v Wade will be the beginning of the Handmaid's Tale.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) September 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/sharkyrae/status/1433141939478663170
I honestly think The Handmaid’s Tale is the Republican Party’s wettest dream.
— Hamish Mitchell (@H_MitchellPhoto) September 1, 2021
In addition to egregiously gutting abortion care, this new TX law ENCOURAGES people to bring lawsuits against those they feel are breaking the law…by promising $10K to those who win their case. It's not just Handmaid's Tale…it's also the Salem Witch Hunt, all over again. https://t.co/W6JbdbixqZ
— Jodi Picoult (updates only) (@jodipicoult) September 1, 2021
🚨 BREAKING: Next season of 'The Handmaid's Tale' to be filmed in Texas. No actors needed.
— ᵁⁿᵏⁱᵉᴹᵒⁿᵏⁱᵉ (@UnkieMonkie) September 1, 2021
Handmaid's Tale is supposed to be fiction.
Texas Supreme Court, please keep it that way.
— Jesus Fucking Christ 🌈 (@SHEsus__Christ) September 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/ECMcLaughlin/status/1432915773136138240
https://twitter.com/MollyLanza/status/1433048703322017795
https://twitter.com/MELLAMB66/status/1432878642950905856
Still, it’s important to remember that there are flaws in The Handmaid’s Tale as an all-encompassing comparison. Rather, financially disadvantaged and women of color are disproportionally affected by what’s happening in Texas, and it’s already making a detrimental impact among those groups.
Women with money *will still have options*, what is happening in Texas is disproportionally threatening the lives of poor women of color and this Handmaid's Tale comparison really needs to go.
— Frankie Huang 黄碧赤 (@ourobororoboruo) September 1, 2021
If you think A Handmaid’s Tale is shocking, wait until you learn the history of Black women in America
— FREE PALESTINE, NO MORE MASTERS (@BreeNewsome) September 1, 2021
I'm having a really hard time with this Handmaid's Tale narrative around Texas because white women's votes are how all of this is possible.
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) September 1, 2021
