Joint Statement by WHRC USA and WoLF

Beginning yesterday, September 1, Texas is effectively banning all abortions performed later than six weeks after a woman’s last period, in effect ending, in Texas, the rights guaranteed to American women by the Supreme Court in the landmark Roe v. Wade case in 1973. It does this by creating a private right of action for anyone who wants to sue anyone who assisted a woman in obtaining the abortion. The Supreme Court has declined the request by Texas abortion providers for an emergency stay to stop the law, Texas S.B. 8, from going into effect. It could still grant the stay; meanwhile, those abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood and Whole Women’s Health, said they will comply with the new law.

Roe v. Wade, as well as subsequent cases that relied on it, gave women the Constitutional right to end their pregnancies before viability of the fetus. In Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992), the Court cited Roe and further ruled that states may not impose undue interference or substantial obstacles to that decision.

Article 3 of the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights reaffirms the rights of women and girls to reproductive integrity, including unhindered access to comprehensive reproductive services; it states that “forced pregnancies are violations of the physical and reproductive integrity of girls and women, and are to be eliminated as forms of sex-based discrimination.”

While it is true that 15 states have laws that explicitly protect women’s abortion rights, travel out of state, especially under pandemic conditions, is no doubt an undue interference and substantial obstacle for some Texas women. But arguably the cruelest provision of Texas S.B. 8 is that it punishes not only the pregnant woman and healthcare providers, but also anyone who would help a woman obtain an abortion in violation of it. In fact, it empowers individual citizens to bring legal action in civil court against those who help women who are trying to obtain a prohibited abortion. Such plaintiffs need not show any connection to the pregnant woman, who could be required to pay the stranger who brought the lawsuit at least $10,000 for each abortion the defendant was involved in. Critics say this draconian law effectively places a “bounty” on the heads of those who assist women in obtaining abortions. We agree.

Who might be included among those who could be sued for helping a woman obtain a now illegal abortion in Texas? A taxi driver who provides transportation to an out-of-state abortion facility? A family member who helps pay for an abortion? A friend who sends the pregnant woman an article from the internet on “menstrual extraction”? Friends, family, and neighbors are now potentially spies for the state, against pregnant women and those who might help them exercise their rights to bodily integrity and sovereignty.

Looking forward, Texas S.B. 8 is just the first of similar bills directly challenging Roe. Later this year, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about a Mississippi law that would ban nearly all abortions in that state after 15 weeks. The success of S.B. 8 can be expected to inspire more bills like this.

The undersigned organizations oppose all such legislation in the strongest terms.

Women’s Liberation Front

Women’s Human Rights Campaign USA

Take Action

Support the Women’s Health Protection Act

The Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) is a proposed piece of federal legislation that would protect the right to access abortion in all states.

If passed, the WHPA* would ban “medically unnecessary restrictions that do not apply to other similar health care procedures” such as heartbeat bills, six-week bans, 20-week bans, and forcing women seeking abortions to endure biased counseling or mandatory ultrasounds.

Write your Representatives and Senators asking them to pass the WHPA now and protect women’s rights!

* The current version of the WHPA in the House includes genderist language in its findings that WoLF does not agree with or support, including defining sex as including "gender identity," describing women's sex-based oppression as being gender-based, and using terms such as "cisgender," "transgender men," and "non-binary individuals" to describe women. Nonetheless, we recognize this bill will universally impact and protect women and girls—the only group of humans who ever need an abortion.