So, Texans. These Republicans think they have outsmarted liberals, Democrats, and people of conscience, once and for all.
I don't think so.
The new law allows any Texan to sue any other Texan who they believe intends to assist, in any way at all, a pregnancy to be aborted. No proof is required to bring these suits — mere suspicion is enough.
Seems to me Greg Abbott, and the rest of his lowlife Republican cohorts, are intending to create aborted pregnancies all across the State of Texas by disallowing mask mandates.
Every pregnant person in Texas, who could catch Covid, is at risk of losing their baby if they get sick.
Greg Abbott is purposely, and with forethought and intent, aiding and abetting Covid into possibly causing pregnancies to abort. Why would he do this? Doesn't matter, as it turns out.
There is no real legal standard involved in filing one of these suits. Neither does a plaintiff require any kind of standing (besides being a Texan) in order to file suit. And no pregnancy has to actually be ended, in order to file suit.
There must be tens of thousands of pregnant people in Texas right now. And a great number of them are at risk from Covid.
There is no consequence to losing these cases.
And each one would cost the defendant some legal fees — especially if he is a busy elected official who cannot defend himself against every case which is filed.
That's a big pile of legal fees Mr. Abbott could be facing. And if he were to lose any of them, at $10,000 a pop, plus everyone's legal fees, well...the possibilities, as I have tried to lay them out, are substantial.
And it needn't be Covid as the cause of one's suspicion of intent. There are any number of ways to turn this law against the monsters who enacted it, from environmental regulations, to economic justice — pretty much anything at all which one could suspect is intended to abort a pregnancy, is just cause to file suit under this law.
This horrible law will spread to other states, so we must find a way to fight it. I think this, might be one way. Turn the tables on these sickos — use their vigilantism against them.
If you are a Texan — especially if you are a lawyer — I encourage you to file a suit. Or ten. Or more.
Update: Lots of great comments, thanks.
One trend I've noticed talks about public officials and indemnification, with the response that the suit is the point, not winning the suit.
I'm not so sure indemnity will work with this law, though.
Abbott and the Republicans who made this law, speak loudly and publicly about their reason for this law, specifically that it comports with their personal religious beliefs.
Now, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure an argument could be made that creating a law for personal religious reasons — especially a law that violates established legal precedent — is not covered by indemnity. In fact, one might argue a law made for personal religious purposes violates Title 18 “color of law."
With this argument, the defendant would be forced to demonstrate making the law was not done for personal reasons, despite public statements to the contrary, and I think a good lawyer could make hay of such a defense.