Biden Denounces New Texas Abortion Law: ‘Blatantly Violates Constitutional Right’ of Roe v. Wade
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President Joe Biden denounced a Texas law that effectively bans abortions in the state in a statement that says the law “blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century.”
The bill, signed into law on Wednesday, prohibits abortions in Texas as early as six weeks when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, even though many women aren’t aware they are pregnant at that stage of their pregnancy. The bill allows any private citizen to sue abortion providers and others who assist in the abortion, making every clinic that provides such a service liable and open to criminal charges.
Texas Tribune explains:
The signing of the bill opens a new frontier in the battle over abortion restrictions as first-of-its-kind legal provisions — intended to make the law harder to block — are poised to be tested in the courts.
Abortion rights advocates have promised to challenge the new law, which they consider one of the most extreme nationwide and the strictest in Texas since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. It would amount to an outright ban on abortions, as the six-week cutoff is two weeks after a missed menstrual cycle, opponents say. The law takes effect in September.
Governor Greg Abbot said in a bill signing ceremony, “Our creator endowed us with the right to life, and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion” while praising a “bipartisan” effort to pass a bill before signing into law the bill that he described as ensuring that “the life of every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion.”
Biden decried the bill in the statement released Wednesday, saying the Texas law”will significantly impair women’s access to the health care they need, particularly for communities of color and individuals with low incomes.” Read the full statement from Biden below:
September 1, 2021 Statement by President Joe Biden on Texas Law SB8
Today, Texas law SB8 went into effect. This extreme Texas law blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century.
The Texas law will significantly impair women’s access to the health care they need, particularly for communities of color and individuals with low incomes. And, outrageously, it deputizes private citizens to bring lawsuits against anyone who they believe has helped another person get an abortion, which might even include family members, health care workers, front desk staff at a health care clinic, or strangers with no connection to the individual.
My administration is deeply committed to the constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade nearly five decades ago and will protect and defend that right.
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