Texas, Idaho and Tennessee pass restrictions that come close to banning abortion

The states of Idaho, Tennessee and Texas in the United States this week almost completely banned abortions, decisions that come after the annulment by the Supreme Court of the case known as Roe vs. Wade on June 24.

These three states had approved “trigger” laws, which imply that as soon as the abortion legislation fell at the national level, they had prohibitive norms for the interruption of pregnancy. 13 states began to apply these laws shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision, but these last three, which are added to the list, had to wait until this Thursday when the 30-day period expired, in order to launch their restrictive laws themselves. .

North Dakota, another of those who wants to pass laws against abortion, must wait for the resolution of a lawsuit from an abortion clinic that alleges that the new decision to ban it goes against the state constitution.

Idaho, Tennessee and Texas already had restrictive abortion laws, which means that the new legislation that comes into force does not imply a great change. Many of the clinics that offered the service have moved to other states where termination of pregnancy is still legal.

In Texas most cases of abortion are prohibited

In this state, most abortions are prohibited when a fetal heartbeat is detected, something that can happen as early as six weeks into the pregnancy, when most women do not yet know they are pregnant. In Texas, this law has been in effect for a year. Nor does this regulation include exceptions for rape and incest.

Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who is seeking to be the state’s next governor, launched his ad campaign against Republican Greg Abbott, who signed the statute. In the ad he says “from this day forward, women across Texas are not free to make decisions about their own bodies.”

On his Twitter account and in Spanish, O’Rourke said: “I will always fight for the freedom of women to make their own decisions about their own body, health care, and future.”

In addition, the new regulations contemplate severe punishments for those who decide to perform clandestine abortions. Physicians who perform pregnancy terminations in Texas could face life in prison or fines of up to $100,000.

The federal government wanted hospitals to perform abortions when the life of the mother was in danger, but a judge temporarily stopped its application on Wednesday.

Idaho and Tennessee, a similar situation of restricted rights

District Judge B. Lynn Winmill decided to stop the ban on abortion in the state of Idaho, arguing that it violated federal law in cases where the mother’s life was at risk. In addition, she wrote about pregnant women, saying that “you cannot imagine the anxiety and fear you will experience if your doctors feel constrained by an Idaho law that prevents them from providing the medical care necessary to preserve your health and your life”.

United States Attorney General Merrick Garland in a written statement said “today’s decision by the Court for the District of Idaho ensures that women in the state can obtain the emergency medical treatment to which they are entitled under the law. federal”.

The Justice Department has said that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires abortion care in urgent situations.

For Idaho, abortion is a crime in all its forms, but doctors can argue in court that they were performed to save the mother or in cases of rape and incest.

Most types of abortion in the state were outlawed on Aug. 12, when the Idaho Supreme Court allowed another law to go into effect that allowed relatives of mothers to sue clinics that performed the procedure.

In Tennessee, contrary to what happened in Texas, two of the six clinics that perform abortions continued to operate after the annulment of Roe v. Wade, but as in Texas there is a “beat law” where doctors who fail to comply can be convicted of serious crimes and spend up to 15 years in prison.

In this state, patients who want to have an abortion must wait 48 hours for doctors to perform the procedure. During this waiting period, there have been patients who could initially abort but with the passing of hours the ultrasound shows cardiac activity of the fetus.

Melissa Grant, director of operations at Carafem, a clinic located in the state capital, Nashville, the picture is devastating “when we realize that we have to turn someone away, whether it’s the first visit or the second visit, the conversations They can be very emotional, mostly out of anger, fear, grief and sometimes disbelief,” she said.

In Memphis, another Tennessee city, at CHOICES: Memphis Center for Reproductive Health, the only abortion clinic operating since 1974, has turned away about 100 patients on the second visit as the fetus’s heart begins to beat.

According to Greer Donley, an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and an expert on abortion law, contradictory rulings like the ones being filed in Texas and Idaho could be seen coming, and she said that if they hold, the Supreme Court of the United States could feel pressured to intervene.

With AP and Reuters.