It is the text that door the most severe blow to abortion rights in nearly half a century in the United States. AN The new Texan law that drastically limits the ability to terminate a pregnancy went into effect on Wednesday, Sept. 1, and allows any citizen to report, as a reward, people who help women abort after six weeks of pregnancy. Franceinfo explains why this legislation* revives the debate over American bounty hunters.
Because the law encourages citizens to report
The text, called “the law of the heartbeat” (“Heartbeat Act”) took effect in Texas on September 1st. It prohibits any miscarriage from the moment an embryo’s heartbeat is detected, that is, after six weeks of pregnancy.
This law differs from other anti-abortion initiatives in the United States in that it is based solely on citizens. Thus, she encourages residents to file a civil suit against those who would help women to have an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. This could include the doctor, but also potentially the taxi driver who brought the patient to the clinic or relatives who helped finance the procedure. Women themselves cannot be affected by legal proceedings.
With this law, “each citizen is now a private attorney general”, said the media The Texas Tribune* Josh Blackman, professor of constitutional law at the South Texas College of Law Houston. For Ken White, a former federal prosecutor, the “The law is calculated to burden anyone considered by conservatives to be linked to abortion with costly and hard-hitting lawsuits”. And even if this “deluge of small unfounded processes “ does not succeed, this legal course will be by itself, for the people concerned, “destructive”.
Because this text offers a bonus of at least $10,000 for informants
In case of conviction, the complaining citizen, who became a complainant, will receive at least $10,000 (almost 8,500 euros) of “compensation”.
Already, Conservative officials in other states have said they want to follow Texas’ example and associations ask for anonymous reporting from those who “help or support” women seeking an abortion. Like the Texas Right to Life association, which configure in his website a form* to collect information about violations of this law.
According to Rebecca Parma, lobbyist for the organization, vshis bonus $10,000 is unlikely to result in unfounded lawsuits from Texans looking to make money. “Most of the people [anti-IVG] whoever would be interested in a lawsuit is not doing it for the money “, she assured the CBS News*. They want to make sure the medical industry complies with the law. “
Because many personalities, including Joe Biden, opposed this law
Seized urgently by family planning associations, the Supreme Court refused to block the law. Among those who would like to oppose it, progressive Sonia Sotomayor denounced a decision “amazing”, taken by five of the nine magistrates: “In facts, [le Texas] ordered the citizens of this state to become bounty hunters. “
For your part, Joe Biden denounces the denunciation encouraged by this law. “It looks ridiculous, almost un-American”, outraged the president on Friday, September 3rd. “The most pernicious thing about this law in Texas is that it creates a sort of self-proclaimed vigilante system, with people collecting rewards.”, he lamented.
He had already criticized the text in an affirmation* Wednesday. “This comprehensive law is a flagrant violation of constitutional law recognized in Roe v. Wade”, he said, referring to the 1973 Supreme Court decision guaranteeing abortion rights in all American states.
From a medical point of view, the doctor Vivek Murthy, who oversees the US Public Health Service (USPHS), said on Twitter that Texas law makes abortions “more dangerous and has a disproportionate impact on women with fewer resources”, adding that these decisions should be left to patients and their physicians.
Banning abortions only makes them more dangerous and disproportionately affects women who have fewer resources. Reproductive health decisions must be made by patients and their physicians. https://t.co/F0vLLrBEsb
– Dr. Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) September 2, 2021
Because there is a long tradition of bounty hunters in the United States
If the tradition of bounty hunters dates back to the Middle Ages in Europe, this practice is now widely illegal throughout the world. But it exists in the United States, where “Bounty hunter” (bounty hunters) are responsible for finding the fugitives.
They mainly pursue suspects released under bail awaiting a court appearance and who have borrowed the amount from specialized companies. If the suspect decides to flee, these companies have the bounty hunters find him and retrieve the deposit. some of these “Bounty hunter” can be armed and equipped with g.bulletproof islands and handcuffs, and even permission to enter private homes.
“Today, many are actually true private investigators, trained in accredited schools”, explains AFP Tristan hair, historian and professor at Johns University Hopkins. “They are an essential cog in the American legal system, but the regulations for this profession are different from state to state.”
While it is difficult to estimate the exact number of these bounty hunters, one industry organization, the Professional surety agents of tea United States, estimates it at 15,500. Other, the National Association of Fugitives Recovery agents, suggests that 30,000 fugitives are arrested each year using these methods.
Because this law awakens the trauma of slavery in some Americans
For some citizens, Texas law brings back painful memories.. At the Ms. Magazine*, Michele goodwin, professor of law at the University of California, laments the similarity between the generosity offered by Texas law and the memory of the rewards offered to those who captured blacks trying to escape slavery. “Some aspects of the new abortion law are eerily reminiscent of the Fugitive Slave Acts, which traumatized blacks for fear of being hunted down and accused of violating slavery codes. “, she explains. She adds that“in the United States, there is very little jurisprudence that enables citizens to undermine constitutional freedom” other citizens, as does Texas law. “The only time we’ve seen this before was when Congress … implemented these laws that allowed blacks to be hunted down and expelled in search of their freedom.”
* Link in English
