September, 01 2021, 12:27pm EDT
NARAL Pro-Choice America Denounces Texas' Vigilante Abortion Ban Now in Effect
Today, Texas' unprecedented abortion ban, Senate Bill 8, went into effect, banning abortion at approximately 6 weeks, before many people even know they are pregnant, and granting almost any person the power to sue someone for "aiding and abetting" a pregnant person seeking abortion care and being awarded $10,000 or more for their vigilantism. The ban went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court failed to step in last night to block the blatantly unconstitutional law.
NARAL Pro-Choice America Acting President Adrienne Kimmell released the following statement:
WASHINGTON
Today, Texas' unprecedented abortion ban, Senate Bill 8, went into effect, banning abortion at approximately 6 weeks, before many people even know they are pregnant, and granting almost any person the power to sue someone for "aiding and abetting" a pregnant person seeking abortion care and being awarded $10,000 or more for their vigilantism. The ban went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court failed to step in last night to block the blatantly unconstitutional law.
NARAL Pro-Choice America Acting President Adrienne Kimmell released the following statement:
"Anti-choice politicians in Texas have put their cruel agenda on full display. SB 8 effectively puts a bounty on the head of anyone who supports a pregnant person seeking abortion care after about 6 weeks in pregnancy. The anti-choice movement is determined to decimate reproductive freedom and intimidate providers, pregnant people, and those who love and care for them. Make no mistake, this law paves the way for anti-choice extremists to turn their dystopian vision into a horrifying reality--not just in Texas--but around the country.
The fundamental freedom to make our own decisions about our lives, futures, and families is at stake. NARAL and our 2.5 million members will continue fighting back against attacks on abortion access from statehouses to the Supreme Court."
Any Texan can now be sued if they are so much as suspected of having helped a pregnant person seeking abortion care after about 6 weeks in pregnancy. This includes clergy members or counselors, abortion funds that assist someone in paying for abortion care, and even someone who drives a patient to their appointment--including family members, friends, and rideshare drivers. Anti-choice extremist group Texas Right to Life launched a website soliciting volunteers to initiate a flood of lawsuits aimed at shuttering clinics and intimidating pregnant people and those who support them.
While multiple states have passed laws banning abortion at this early point in pregnancy, until today, every state's attempt to ban abortion at 6 weeks has been struck down by federal courts as unconstitutional. Texas' SB 8 is different: Unlike bans in other states, which are enforced by state officials, SB 8 gives private citizens unprecedented authority to enforce its abortion ban.
The impact of SB 8 will reverberate throughout surrounding states as they experience an influx of Texans traveling to get abortion care no longer accessible in their home state. When anti-choice Republicans in Texas attempted to ban abortion in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it resulted in a 1,200% increase in Texans visiting Planned Parenthood clinics in Colorado and a "more than sevenfold increase"--706%--in Texans visiting Planned Parenthood clinics in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that SB 8 going into effect could increase one-way driving distance for abortion services from 12 miles to 248 miles, or 20 times as far.
The harm of SB 8 is likely to disproportionately impact Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other people of color; LGBTQ+ people; immigrants; and people with low incomes, communities disproportionately targeted by both surveillance and barriers to abortion access.
The enactment of SB 8 is part of a broader onslaught of attacks on abortion access in Texas. Earlier this year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a "trigger ban" that will automatically ban abortion across the state and criminalize doctors who provide abortion care if the anti-choice supermajority on the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade (which they will have the opportunity to do this term in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case). Yesterday, anti-choice lawmakers in the Texas House of Representatives passed SB 4, a bill that attacks access to medication abortion care. The bill has already passed the state Senate and will now go to Governor Abbott for approval.
Texas' SB 8 joins over 90 other restrictions on abortion access that have been enacted at the state level in 2021, making it the worst year for abortion rights since Roe was decided.
For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
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Biden Commutes 1,500 Sentences and Issues 39 Pardons—But Leaves 40 People on Death Row
"State-sanctioned murder is not justice, and President Biden has an opportunity and an obligation to save lives," Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley said earlier this week.
Dec 12, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 Americans and pardoning 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes, a move the White House described as "the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history."
But the president's sweeping use of his clemency power as his term nears its conclusion did not appear to extend to any of the 40 men currently on death row—some of whom have been there for decades.
According to a White House fact sheet, those who received commutations "have been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the Covid-era CARES Act," a law that extended the amount of time in which people could be placed in home confinement to reduce the spread of the virus in prisons.
The White House did not name those who received pardons or commutations but said the list includes a "decorated military veteran," a "nurse who has led emergency response for several natural disasters," and "an addiction counselor who volunteers his time to help young people find their purpose."
The Biden Justice Department paused federal executions in 2021, but President-elect Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to expand the use of the death penalty and is expected to allow the executions of the 40 men on death row to take place if they're still there when he takes office next month.
In a statement on Thursday, Biden said that he has "the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses."
"That is why, today, I am pardoning 39 people who have shown successful rehabilitation and have shown commitment to making their communities stronger and safer," the president said. "I am also commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who are serving long prison sentences—many of whom would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices. These commutation recipients, who were placed on home confinement during the Covid pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance."
Biden, who campaigned on ending the death penalty at the federal level, vowed to "take more steps in the weeks ahead" as his administration reviews clemency petitions, leaving open the possibility of commutations for death row prisoners.
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Despite the Pentagon's repeated failures to pass audits and various alarming policies, 81 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives voted with 200 Republicans on Wednesday to advance a $883.7 billion annual defense package.
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The push to pass the NDAA comes as this congressional session winds down and after the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced last month that it had failed yet another audit—which several lawmakers highlighted after the Wednesday vote.
Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), co-chairs and co-founders of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, said in a joint statement, "Time and time again, Congress seems to be able to find the funds necessary to line the pockets of defense contractors while neglecting the problems everyday Americans face here at home."
"Instead of fighting the rising cost of healthcare, gas, or groceries, this Congress prioritized rewarding the wealthy and well-connected military-industrial complex with even more unaccountable funds," they continued. "After a seventh failed audit in a row, it's disappointing that our amendment to hold the Pentagon accountable by penalizing the DOD's budget by 0.5% for each failed audit was stripped out of the final bill. It's time Congress demanded accountability from the Pentagon."
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"Once again, Congress has passed a massive military authorization bill that prioritizes endless military spending over the critical needs of American families. This year's NDAA designates $900 billion for military spending," said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), noting the audit failures. "While I recognize the long-overdue 14.5% raise for our lowest-ranking enlisted personnel is important, this bill remains flawed. The bloated military budget continues to take away crucial funding from programs that could help millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet."
Taking aim at the GOP's push to deny gender-affirming care through TRICARE, the congresswoman said that "I cannot support a bill that continues unnecessary military spending while also attacking the rights and healthcare of transgender youth, and for that reason, I voted NO."
As Omar, a leading critic of the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, also pointed out: "The NDAA includes a provision that blocks the Pentagon from using data on casualties and deaths from the Gaza Ministry of Health or any sources relying on those statistics. This is an alarming erasure of the suffering of the Palestinian people, ignoring the human toll of ongoing violence."
Israel—which receives billions of dollars in annual armed aid from the United States—faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court last month issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The NDAA includes over $627 million in provisions for Israel.
Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), who voted against the NDAA, directed attention to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), set to be run by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
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The General Assembly also voted 159-9 with 11 abstentions in favor of a resolution supporting UNRWA.
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Following yet another United States veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities in Gaza, members of the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of an "immediate, unconditional, and permanent cease-fire" in the Palestinian enclave, where Israeli forces continued relentless attacks that killed dozens more Palestinians, including numerous children.
The veto by the United States, a permanent Security Council member, came during an emergency special session and was the lone dissenting vote on the 15-member body. It was the fourth time since October 2023 that the Biden administration vetoed a Security Council resolution on a Gaza cease-fire.
"At a time when Hamas is feeling isolated due to the cease-fire in Lebanon, the draft resolution on a cease-fire in Gaza risks sending a dangerous message to Hamas that there's no need to negotiate or release the hostages," Robert Wood, the United States' deputy U.N. ambassador, said ahead of Wednesday's vote.
The 193-member U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) subsequently voted 158-9, with 13 abstentions, for a resolution demanding "an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire, to be respected by all parties," and calling for the "immediate and unconditional release of all hostages" held by Hamas.
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In a separate vote Wednesday, 159 UNGA members voted in favor of a resolution affirming the body's "full support" for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. UNRWA has been the target of diplomatic and financial attacks by Israel and its backers—who have baselessly accused the lifesaving organization of being a terrorist group—and literal attacks by Israeli forces, who have killed more than 250 of the agency's personnel.
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toldThe Associated Press.
Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, at least 162,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, maimed, or left missing by Israel's bombardment, invasion, and siege of the coastal enclave, according to officials there. More than 2 million others have been forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened by Israel's onslaught.
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