Act now, Floridians, to prevent living under a dreadful Texas-style abortion law | Opinion
Because of a new law in Texas, people who help, or intend to help, someone get an abortion after six weeks in Texas can be sued by a neighbor, distant relative, abusive partner — or even a stranger from out of state — and collect $10,000 for each successful claim.
Politicians, neighbors, and even complete strangers could have the right to sue anytime they know of someone trying to access abortion.
There is a broad range of views about access to safe and legal abortion in our country, though most people support Roe v. Wade and believe people should have the freedom to control their own bodies and their course of their lives without shame or judgment.
It’s hard to believe that anyone would want to live under a law that pays us to spy on each other and turn each other in for a bounty. But that is now the law in Texas. Here in Florida, Gov. DeSantis and legislative leaders are signaling they intend to pass a similar law. In fact, Senate President Wilton Simpson said they already are working on it.
The Texas ban makes abortion everyone’s business but your own. This unconstitutional law bans abortion at six weeks — before many people even know they’re pregnant — and it means that many Texas patients simply won’t be able to get an abortion.
No one’s most personal medical decisions should be controlled by politicians or anyone else. While this bill is extreme, it’s important to recognize it is part of a national agenda to end access to abortion in this country.
A Texas-style abortion ban in Florida would be devastating, not just for Florida but for the entire southeastern United States, where citizens rely on safe and judgment-free abortion access in this state because abortion is already so restricted in neighboring states.
And don’t look to the U.S. Supreme Court for help. In the dead of night, justices turned their backs on 50 years of precedent, effectively rendering the case that has guided policy in our country for generations meaningless in Texas.
The Texas law, like bills we’ve seen introduced in Florida before, bans abortion at six weeks, before many people know that they’re pregnant. About 85% to 90% of people who obtain abortions in Texas are at least six weeks into pregnancy, meaning this law would prohibit nearly all abortions in the state. Those numbers would be similar in Florida, which is why this is a ban on almost all abortions, in spite of Roe v. Wade.
This is the greatest threat to physical autonomy and personal freedom in our country in five decades. With almost 600 restrictions introduced, 2021 has been the worst year for state legislative attacks on abortion since Roe v. Wade passed in 1973.
Here’s the bottom line: Your abortion is your business — no one else’s. Politics has no place in a pregnant person’s most personal healthcare decisions. Every person should be able to make their own decisions about their health and their bodies — including abortion. No one should have their most personal medical decisions controlled by politicians, neighbors, complete strangers or anyone else.
Contact your state representatives and senators, and tell them in no uncertain terms that we will not stand by and allow Florida to ban abortion and turn our neighbors into bounty hunters and spies.
“Dime con quien andas, y te diré quien eres” —Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are.” Texas already had an abysmal track record on personal freedoms and healthcare access. It already had the most abortion restrictions in the country and the lowest funding for family planning.
Is this really the lead we want to follow?
Lillian Tamayo is president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South, East and North Florida.