Proposed Texas bill seeks to ban abortion websites in the state

[RandySF]

The almost non-existent abortion rights of Texans may be further diminished as a new proposed bill by Republican legislators in the state seeks to ban access to websites that are "intended to assist or facilitate efforts to obtain an elective abortion or an abortion-inducing drug." Since the ban on abortion in the state in 2022 following the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade, Texas Republicans are now targeting internet service providers in the proposed bill's attempt to control how the internet is accessed.

HB2690, introduced by Republican State House Representative Steve Toth last week, calls upon ISPs to "make every reasonable and technologically feasible effort to block Internet access" to sites that provide information on how to obtain or access an abortion or abortion-inducing drugs, specifically, mifepristone and misoprostol. Rep. Toth's bill also explicitly called out six websites: aidaccess.org, heyjane.co, plancpills.org, mychoix.co, justthepill.com, and carafem.org. This also prohibits individuals from creating a website "that assists or facilitates a person's effort in obtaining an abortion-inducing drug," according to the bill.

As The New Republic notes, medication abortions, i.e., abortions that can be performed outside of a doctor’s office using pills, represent more than half of all abortions in the United States.

While this bill doesn't singularly target pregnant women, it does encourage citizens to seek civil action by allowing them to sue ISPs or individuals they believe to be violating the proposed law. This is in line with Texas's "bounty hunter" approach to its abortion ban, calling upon citizens to enforce the law.



https://www.aol.com/news/proposed-texas-bill-seeks-ban-174728331.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGRxVRq5Ga-_FbindHxk9BqfvsEKdWQr9JEf83Xk0vfSTDnzKTa1NzT4YNVj1WIYST01iIXlprNk6m18gQ-Nam1ZOaVlnlTxS1U29BBZ6GoVl250XgSYhXOWH464Kg4qQpq_Oog4c9sjWku1Z_pyTPkRNj9Nb_Ll3H6-gDEnUB18

[MarineCombatEngineer]

1. Internet providers, hopefully, will tell this Nazi to fuck off.

I don't see how TX. could enforce this clearly unconstitutional law.

[RKP5637]

3. K&R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[mike_c]

6. I don't think enforcing it is the point

This is just one of this weeks culture war stunts to keep the attention of its permanently aggrieved base, while whipping up their grievances even higher. Today's Republican party cannot govern. They are a grievance machine. That's where their greatest threat to democracy lies-- unable to govern, they must create and maintain their constituency's disaffection with American institutions to stay in power, and they recognize it.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

7. I think you're correct,

they have to pander to their Nazi base who'll lap this up like it's the 2nd coming.

[RKP5637]

2. Treat TX like China. The internet can get through. n/t

[sanatanadharma]

4. OK, I propose other States ban Texas tourism industry sites

Or blue States could ban gun-seller sites. There is no 2nd amendment right to advertise guns.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

8. I like it.

[elleng]

5. They're not 'merely' nuts,

they're oblivious to the meaning of the First Amendment.

'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.'

It does require a bit of analysis, but not TOO much.

[Volaris]

9. To say NOTHING of how interstate commerce is supposed to work.

Abbott and Paxton are not gonna be allowed to run their own little fiedom down there...pretty sure even this SC won't allow it.

[Lettuce Be]

10. How exactly would they propose to exclude Texas from any websites? This is lunacy at its best

Me thinks they do not understand how the internet works. Same with banning books, that's a nice concept but impossible in a digital world.