What the new Texas Senate Bill 8 regarding abortion implies for Georgia and the rest of the country

The Messenger Editorial Board

On Sept. 1, the Texas General Assembly passed Senate Bill 8, which banned the ability of others to provide abortion care to an individual after six weeks of pregnancy. The law further provides a monetary incentive of $10,000 for citizens to sue individuals who may aid or abet an abortion, but not the individual themselves –– a dire technicality that Texas Republicans have exploited to ban all abortions in the state. Such a law is not only a flagrant violation of the Constitution but also a harmful restriction that further strains the relationship between an individual’s right to privacy and government control of their body. 

It is worth noting that, on its most basic level, such a law does not come as much of a surprise. Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973, pro-life activists have turned to grassroots organizing to stifle abortions at every step of the way. In April 2019, it was through Alabama’s Human Life Protection Act, which banned abortions at all stages of pregnancy and punished doctors who performed the procedure. Later that year, it was Georgia’s Heartbeat Bill that banned abortions after six weeks, making no exception for cases of rape or incest. But Texas’ SB-8 poses a world of unique problems. For starters, it allows people with absolutely no connection to the individual receiving an abortion to sue those aiding and abetting said abortion; this includes anyone from the individual’s Uber driver to their own spouse. Even worse, plaintiffs who sue can receive damages of up to $10,000. This is problematic not only because it transforms the search for those who receive abortions into a Salem-style witchhunt, but also because it unjustly empowers private citizens to take the law into their own hands. Consider, too, the collateral damage this could incur on individuals who have suffered a miscarriage. The loss of pregnancy could easily be misconstrued as an abortion. With nearly one in five pregnancies in the US ending as a result of a miscarriage, this means one million individuals suffering from miscarriages could be further traumatized by one million abortion lawsuits.

Yet, pro-life advocates for SB-8 hold that since the law is enforced by private citizens rather than public officials, it does not subvert judicial review. They also argue that the purpose of the law is to penalize the abortion industry as a whole, and it was designed to have virtually no repercussions for the individual receiving the abortion. But such claims could not be further from the truth. It is not fair to say the law has no impact on individuals receiving abortions — time and time again, studies have shown a ban on abortion does not actually deter abortions but instead makes them more unsafe. Now that the people aiding abortions are at higher risk of a lawsuit, it’s likely that the precarious, back-alley process to get an abortion will only become more dangerous. 

Reproductive rights aside, using such a loophole sets an incredibly dangerous precedent for the Texas GOP that could set off a chain of similar laws in other states. Commissioning private citizens to do the bidding of the government in order to sidestep the authority of the courts is a maneuver that could easily be applied to any controversial issue, such as gun control or environmental protection. For example, if New York Democrats decided to ban all guns in the state by encouraging citizens to sue others possessing guns, the Supreme Court’s rationale for upholding SB-8 would allow it. 

If the past few years are any indication, the future of reproductive rights in the US is grim. The Texas Right to Life organization is already in contact with state legislators across the nation to use SB-8 as a model for similar laws, and the Florida State Senate leader has even said there is “no question” he and his colleagues will consider a similar law. The same fate in Georgia is not out of question, either. 

Still, though, there is time. As the Georgia General Assembly convenes for the final time this year starting in the fall, Georgians must organize to fight such restrictive laws and unite to resist the development of this gross human rights abuse.