Today starts the last full week of September. I guess yesterday actually started it, but let’s not quibble. In any event, I have some Actual Paying Work to get through this week so let’s knock this out.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced today it would hear the challenge to Mississippi’s highly restrictive anti-abortion law. In short, Mississippi prevents any abortions after 15 weeks for any reason, apart from a handful of medical reasons. Providers could lose their licenses and face fines. Furthermore, it would cast restrictions on Mississippi’s one medical center in the state that provides abortion access. The court case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in question specifically looks into whether or not any and all pre-vitality abortion restrictions are unconstitutional.
And therein lies the rub. Fetuses aren’t considered “viable” – that is, can possibly survive outside the womb – after 24 weeks, a good two months after Mississippi’s cut-off line. Opponents of the law are arguing this effecting bans abortion, thus overturning 1973’s Roe v. Wade and 1992’s Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania v. Casey, the two major Supreme Court cases that reaffirmed the Constitutional right for women seeking an abortion. This would open the door to states effectively banning abortion.
Proponents of the law say, “yeah, that’s the whole point.” Mississippi officials who’ve pushed this law have made no bones about their opposition to a woman’s right to choose and wish to completely ban abortion in any and all cases beyond a handful of medical situations. That includes rape and incest. Mississippi Attorney Lynn Fitch ran on closing off abortion opportunities and is just tickled pink about the Supreme Court’s announcement.
The fear is that since this is the first heavy abortion case heard by the Supreme Court since it went to a far-right majority. The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, rushed through in the waning days of Trump’s presidency showcasing Congressional Republicans outright hypocrisy on this matter, threw the Court’s balance to a far-right 6-3 majority. Furthermore, she’s known as a big-time anti-choice advocate. Some Supreme Court justices have been trying to convince people that the Court isn’t partisan, but since this is being done by a couple of partisan hacks like Barrett and Clarence Thomas no one believes them.
The Supreme Court will hear the case on December 1. So far, we haven’t heard from Gov. Tate Reeves on this matter, but I’m sure it’s a matter of time. However, after embarrassing himself on national television yesterday, he’s still shaking his pink fist at President Joe Biden’s “tyrannical-type” vaccination mandate while the state he governs is second in the world for deaths by capita. Also, just in case anyone forgot, Mississippi is the worst state in the union for infant mortality, which is already born babies. Nice to know the state leaders really have their eye on the ball.
Moving onto another state’s psychotic stance on abortion, Texas is seeing the first run-through of its own outrageous and incredibly unpopular abortion law. Recall, it says no abortion after six weeks and anyone connected to a woman getting an abortion – from the doctor who performs it to the Uber driver that gives her a ride – can be sued in civil court for a $10,000 bounty. Last month, after the ban was passed on by the U.S. Supreme Court, San Antonio’s Dr. Alan Braid performed an abortion for someone whose name is none of our damn business. An OB/GYN, he said he was motivated by “duty of care” and didn’t want Texas to get away with its “blatantly unconstitutional” ban. He admitted all this in a Washing Post column published this weekend, and damn the torpedoes.
Cut to today when a claim on the bounty was filed in Bexar County court by one Oscar Stilley. He’s suing Braid for $100,000, reasoning if Texas is giving out that money why shouldn’t he get it? Unassailable logic there, I suppose. Some facts about Mr. Stilley. For one, he lives in Fort Smith, Arkansas, not Texas. For another, he currently doesn’t have a job because he’s finishing up a 15-year federal sentence for tax fraud committed in 2010. Formerly known as an anti-tax advocate and very litigious lawyer, he lost his law license and has spent the last 11 years under home arrest. He’s now known as an ethics black hole who manages not to get the massive hammer, but that’s how that goes.
Stilley posted pictures of his claim online and the Bexar legal establishment has yet to comment on any of it. The legal experts who have commented on this don’t know yet how it would work out nor even if Stilley can get away with the lawsuit. If so, it does open up to any damnfool yay-hoo in the country trying to sue people in Texas, and I don’t know if that’s what they want. However, Gov. Greg Abbott is an absolute asshole and doesn’t really care about the people who live in his state, so who knows.
Dear Y'all 