Texas Republicans Ban Women From Using Highways for Abortion Appointments

Lubbock County, Texas, joins a group of other rural Texas counties that have voted to ban women from using their roads to seek abortions.

This comes after six cities and counties in Texas have passed abortion-related bans, out of nine that have considered them. However, this ordinance makes Lubbock the biggest jurisdiction yet to pass restrictions on abortion-related transportation.

During Monday’s meeting, the Lubbock County Commissioners Court passed an ordinance banning abortion, abortion-inducing drugs and travel for abortion in the unincorporated areas of Lubbock County, declaring Lubbock County a “Sanctuary County for the Unborn.”

The ordinance is part of a continued strategy by conservative activists to further restrict abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade as the ordinances are meant to bolster Texas’ existing abortion ban, which allows private citizens to sue anyone who provides or “aids or abets” an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

The ordinance, which was introduced to the court last Wednesday, was passed by a vote of 3-0 with commissioners Terence Kovar, Jason Corley and Jordan Rackler, all Republicans, voting to pass the legislation while County Judge Curtis Parrish, Republican, and Commissioner Gilbert Flores, Democrat, abstained from the vote.

spacecowboy,

Texas is so fucking stupid.

agent_flounder,
@agent_flounder@lemmy.world avatar

I think the same thing every time I have had to visit over the last several years. Fuck everything about that insane shithole.

TransplantedSconie,

Doesn’t this run afoul of the commerce clause?

A random ass County can’t ban travel on any roads or highway for any reason, right? That’s strictly the job of congress.

TransplantedSconie,

Also I’d like to add:

How about this worthless board look into why there is so much crime in the county before Talibaning travel for women?

You have a 1 in 92 chance of being a victim of violent crime in Lubbock County compared to a 1 in 220 chance in the rest of Texas

agent_flounder,
@agent_flounder@lemmy.world avatar

Board: “that’s almost where we want things, let’s see if we can pump up those chances”

hiddengoat,

Because Lubbock is a meth-infested shithole in the middle of nowhere. The only thing to do there is drugs, alcohol, rape, and domestic violence.

TransplantedSconie,

Truly a “Sanctuary County for the Unborn.”

aniki,

deleted_by_author

    •
    SheDiceToday,

    The big stick that the federal government has in this case (regarding highway travel) is funding. Considering where funding bills typically start, I don’t think we can blame the president for this one.

    reversebananimals,

    My first thought as well. There is NO way this doesn’t get struck down in a court case. If you can’t even ban guns on streets near schools (US v. Lopez) then you definitely can’t ban a person from driving on a road to get to a medical procedure in a different state.

    eestileib,

    Have you seen the other decisions made by SCOTUS?

    They don’t give a shit about consistency or law or precedent. They are politicians put there to deliver specific outcomes.

    rchive,

    They do care about precedent, usually too much in my opinion. There have been many cases in the last few years brought to SCOTUS seeking the overturning of the doctrine of Qualified Immunity, but SCOTUS has in all cases either not taken them up or not ruled on that issue. They basically keep saying, “we’ve already ruled on this, we won’t touch it unless Congress changes the law in some way.” Dobbs was like the one issue SCOTUS has actually overturned a previous opinion on in recent years.

    rchive,

    It’s not a ban, per se, it “just” opens people up to civil liability. The reason they do it that way is to skirt the Constitution.

    ristoril_zip,

    My guess is this is what will doom this law, specifically since they’re also looking at drugs which are certainly commodities from out of state.

    It might also be a prior restraint case depending on if traveling to a women’s healthcare provider is protected expression.

    Like, the problem for the county here is trying to stop people from doing something they can’t prove they’re actually going to do.

    They might be able to plus up other charges based on using county property in the commission of some other “crime” (gigantic air quotes). Sort of like getting extra charges due to using the USPS to commit a crime.

    Zron,

    Exactly. They’d have to prove you were specifically going there to get an abortion.

    Cops can’t stop you because you were on your way to a bank, just because they feel you might want to rob it. You have to have actually done something illegal in the first place.

    somePotato,

    Cops can’t stop you because you were on your way to a bank, just because they feel you might want to rob it.

    LOL Sure, in theory they can’t, but in reality cops do stop people for any made up reason and they can also shoot you for any made up reason without consequence.

    And “pro-life” people will support every cop that kills a pregnant woman on that highway.

    tallwookie,

    it may be that they’re fully cognizant of this but this is a “pandering to the base” move they know will get shot down, then they just have to point at DC and say ‘hey, we tried, praise jaysus’

    roofuskit,
    roofuskit avatar

    All they have is performative politics.

    agent_flounder,
    @agent_flounder@lemmy.world avatar

    Or they hope it sticks. If they flood the courts with enough egregiously fucked up laws some are bound to slip through.

    Riyria,

    The commerce clause would like a word.

    phoenixz,

    Starting the stopwatch for the next pregnant woman shot dead by police to stop her from getting an abortion

    samtoxie,

    Mission failed successfully?

    paddirn,

    We should probably also have them start wearing masks and robes over their faces/bodies too, to prevent them from having unwanted pregnancies. Actually, just don’t even give driver’s licenses to women in the first place, since they should always be getting escorted by their fathers or husbands in the first place, they really shouldn’t even be allowed to drive. And if we wanted to reduce unemployment, we could just require all these women in the workplace to go back to being stay-at-home moms, like God intended, freeing up all those jobs for hard-working American men to work at. Send me money if you agree.

    Adalast,

    Oh, oh. Don’t forget that women don’t need to bother with the whole pesky voting thing. Their brains aren’t built for it. The 19th amendment was a mistake.

    Venomnik0,

    Wow you should run as governor. I should you give you a suggestion between Florida or Texas.

    watson387,
    @watson387@sopuli.xyz avatar

    The Handmaid’s Tale is a Christofascist wet dream.

    Slovene,

    Y’all-Qaeda

    OldManDerp,

    Yeah, well Leon Phelps called it his Spankuary.

    And…if that is a place for the unborn to see refuge…does that mean migrants that are expecting mothers or maybe just are THINKING of getting pregnant, can go there and skip the lines? Desantis needs to know where he can bus his pawns.

    MattGade,

    What a middle aged country is in some ways

    Smacks,
    @Smacks@lemmy.world avatar

    And I’m sure it was penned by some 105 year old dinosaur

    Gazumi,

    Texan Taliban impose driving ban

    Adalast,

    Well, they are ok with Tex-Mex, so Tex-Queida is probably ok. Same with Tex-ria law, obviously.

    FReddit,

    Texiban?

    Adalast,

    No, that is what they are trying to do with abortions.

    Ba dum tis

    rustbuckett,

    How could they even begin to enforce this?!

    Longpork_afficianado,

    Roadside genital testing, followed by taking anyone found to have a vagina down to the station for an evidentiary pregnancy test.

    organicmolecules,

    They get your neighbors to turn you in.

    HawlSera,

    How the fuck do you even enforce this?

    AceFuzzLord,

    By stopping all cars with pregnant women and telling them they aren’t allowed to leave the county. I imagine that’s what they might end up doing.

    HawlSera,

    I’d say that’d wind up in front of the Supreme Court really fucking quickly…

    Except, I think that’s what they’re counting on…

    CADmonkey,

    They’re also counting on people without means not being able to take it to court to begin with. A quick look at a map tells me there’s an airport in Lubbock county, I bet there hasn’t been a law introduced to keep pregnant women off of an airplane…

    Tangent5280,

    Ah, so its only no abortion for the poor then.

    OneWomanCreamTeam,

    As expected. Rules are for the poors.

    CADmonkey,

    Are you surprised?

    AutistoMephisto,
    @AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world avatar

    No, they do it through the same mechanism that made the Texas Heartbeat Bill possible. Private reporting and investigation, AKA snitching. Remember in Texas you can get $10k for reporting a woman seeking an abortion.

    reverendsteveii,

    Selectively

    snf,

    The ordinance is enforceable through the private enforcement mechanism which has proven its success in both the Lubbock City Ordinance and the Texas Heartbeat Act. This is how the ordinance is enforced,

    So: snitching.

    AutistoMephisto,
    @AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world avatar

    And they’re damn slick about it, too. They start by asking a woman who they think might be pregnant how far along they are, if they have a name picked out, all innocent and normal questions to ask an expecting mother, right? Like, they do it at rest stops and gas stations. And because the woman seeking an abortion isn’t being questioned by someone who outwardly looks like a cop, they let their guard down. So, basically if you’re a pregnant woman in Texas and you are seeking to leave the state for an abortion, trust NOBODY. Keep your guard up, don’t answer any questions, and don’t stop anywhere unless absolutely necessary.

    Adalast,

    So close… Just don’t answer questions in Texas. Regardless of your gender, natal status, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs, someone is trying to fuck you with something. Even being a cisgender heterosexual white male is not safe if your lacking a confederate flag or maga hat.

    In all seriousness, the only correct response to someone in Texas randomly asking a woman questions about a pregnancy is very appalled and indignant “No I’m not doing insert activity here. I’m not pregnant. Are you calling me fat?”

    AutistoMephisto,
    @AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world avatar

    Like I said, they’re slick about it. They hit ya with that folksy charm and try to get you gabbin about your business so they can later call someone and say “This person ain’t like us! Let’s git em!”

    Adalast,

    Yeah, I wonder how they would react if you responded to the “names” line with “Oh, if it’s a boy we were thinking either Azezal or Baphomet, and for a girl we absolutely have to use Lilith. It is always prudent to have a backup so maybe Lamia? What do you think?”

    rustbuckett,

    You beat me to it.

    Mnemnosyne,

    This shouldn’t be a problem based on how they think abortions work…the woman didn’t go out FOR an abortion, she was out shopping and decided to get one, like picking up a snack on your way out of the market!

    Seriously it’s deranged. If they behaved generally like they care about the ‘children’ and the women, I could accept they’re at least acting in good faith according to their dumbass beliefs, but they don’t seem to care except for outlawing and restricting women’s activities, so it’s clear that those who say the point is just to subjugate women are right.

    mojo,

    Why does Texas hate freedom so much?

    superguy,

    Texans are some of the most delusional people on the planet.

    For some reason, even the democrats there think it’s better than states like Florida. It isn’t.

    The only state that is objectively worse than Texas is Louisiana, and that’s saying something.

    mojo,

    Idk, Florida is prettttty bad

    superguy,

    Not nearly as bad as Texas. They have nice beaches, and decent cities.

    Shame about the whole swamp and going into the water thing, but it’s still a pretty nice place to be. And of course their politics suck, mostly driven by old people, rich people, and idiots who succumb to them at their own expense.

    mojo,

    Idk, Florida is prettttty bad

    Gruntyfish,

    Mississippi is also a strong contender

    Olhonestjim,

    At least Mississippi doesn’t pretend to be god’s gift to humanity and the greatest nation to ever exist. Texas is high as shit on the smell of its own farts.

    Gruntyfish,

    That is a fair point.

    superguy,

    I agree, but I’d rather live in Mississippi than Texas.

    At least they have cheap housing.

    AnxiousOtter,

    Texas has some pretty cheap housing. A friend just bought a 3000 sqft single outside of Austin for ~300k.

    I bought a 2000 sqft single detached in my city for $1.2mil so… Texas definitely wins on that front. But then you have to live in Texas =/.

    superguy,

    That’s not cheap at all compared to Mississippi, lol.

    AnxiousOtter,

    Doesn’t really seem like it? A quick lookup of single detached prices in and around Jackson seems to suggest that the prices range from 600-700k with some outliers breaking $1mil+.

    Are you talking about the middle of butt fuck nowhere, because then you’re comparing apples to oranges. Middle of nowhere Texas is also dirt cheap but I specified Austin.

    superguy,

    Housing is way cheaper in rural Mississippi than rural Texas.

    You may be able to find similarly priced houses in Texas, but they will often be dilapidated compared to what you’ll find in Mississippi.

    You seem like the kind of person who thinks life outside of major cities doesn’t matter, so I don’t expect you to care about the price of homes outside of major cities.

    AnxiousOtter,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    superguy,

    That’s fair. I was comparing prices of houses outside of major cities since the vast majority of Americans will never be able to afford a house in or around one.

    aesthelete,

    Their property taxes also suck more than people know but there’s no denying California real estate prices suck.

    DragonTypeWyvern,

    Texas has cheap housing outside of the cities. It’s what lets idiots brag about “cheaper cost of living,” ignoring that it’s because the state is less urbanized.

    superguy,

    Really? What would you consider ‘cheap housing’?

    DragonTypeWyvern,

    At least Mississippi only fought one war for slavery.

    OneWomanCreamTeam,

    Alabama is trying, but there not quite at Texas’s level yet.

    dangblingus,

    For real, at least everything in FL is cheap af.

    EyesInTheBoat,
    @EyesInTheBoat@lemmy.world avatar

    Not anymore. Rent has almost doubled where I’m at and South Florida seems to be worse

    superguy,

    Not the housing.

    CADmonkey,

    It’s bad when Oklahoma has advantages over texas.

    superguy,

    Yep. It’s that bad.

    lanolinoil,
    @lanolinoil@lemmy.world avatar

    You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about since you skipped Mississippi, land of waffle House and sadness.

    superguy,

    Nah. I skipped Mississippi on purpose. Cheap housing, decent geography, and that’s about it.

    More than Texas can say, though.

    lanolinoil,
    @lanolinoil@lemmy.world avatar

    Hmmm

    RizzRustbolt,

    Wait… I thought it was us socialists that were all about the thoughtcrimes?

    ChaoticEntropy,
    @ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk avatar

    Cool… driving whilst pregnant is the latest thing to fear US police over then. Wait until the first pregnant woman is shot as part of a routine traffic stop checking for abortion plans.

    Evia,
    @Evia@lemmy.world avatar

    Yeah but she’s be black, or poor or queer so it’s okay

    random65837,

    Don’t make idiotic comments on shit you don’t understand. You’re clearly not an American, so don’t pretend you have a clue.

    Overgrowngoblin,

    This guy in other threads gives his opinions on Israel and Canada and then thinks only Americans can give opinions on America.

    random65837,

    and then thinks only Americans can give opinions on America

    Quote where I said that asshole. If your pathetic profile snooping was any good, you’d know I lived in Canada for years, nice try.

    rbesfe,

    As a Canadian, I’m glad you left

    random65837,

    As an American, so am I! Your country is shit.

    InternetUser2012,

    Kinda looking like you’re shit tbh. Maybe go back to reddit, seems more in your wheelhouse.

    random65837,

    In would, but I’m here to get away from types like you

    rbesfe,

    Cope

    DragonTypeWyvern,

    Stop sending us these people please

    Mafflez,

    Get some guns and shoot em for all I care mate.

    CADmonkey,

    God damn will you go back to crying at people about linux? The adults are having a conversation.

    random65837,

    No, feel free to quoute my “crying about Linux” pathetic profile sniffer.

    AnxiousOtter,

    Hey… Leave Linux out of this. It didn’t do anything wrong!

    CADmonkey,

    Nope, and I use it myself. But dude’s post history is just reams of him bitching at people about this or that OS/distro. I’m just picturing someome always yelling at his screen, and who angry-types a keyboard into the trash every three months.

    Soulg,

    They clearly know more than you do. I’m actually from Texas and it’s fucking spot on

    random65837,

    Oh? What is that “they know” since nothing specific was addressed other than generic talking point fears from the viewpoint of a European. Unlike them, I’ve lived in TX. Can’t wait to hear this…

    CADmonkey,

    The officer had to save the life of the fetus. (by shooting the person keeping it alive)

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