Texas city to vote on banning patients from traveling through it for abortion

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Fri 19 Jul 2024 09.00 EDT


A city nestled in the northern tip of Texas, which was at the heart of a major US supreme court case over abortion rights this year, has found itself at the forefront of the abortion wars once again.

Come November, residents of Amarillo, Texas, will vote on an ordinance that would declare Amarillo a “sanctuary city for the unborn” and ban people from helping patients travel through Amarillo to access abortions – what the ordinance calls “abortion trafficking”. It would also ban people from possessing or distributing abortion pills within Amarillo city limits.

Over the last several months, a string of Texas localities have passed similar ordinances. Amarillo’s city council spent months arguing over whether to pass its own “sanctuary city” ordinance, but in June, the council officially rejected it. However, while the ordinance languished before the council, a separate group gathered enough signatures for the ordinance to appear on Amarillo’s November ballot.

Although the city council is still deliberating the language to describe the ordinance on the ballot, activists in the city are already gearing up to campaign against it. “We are ready,” said Lindsay London, an activist with the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance. “Travel bans harm communities. They harm the privacy of medical relationships. They do not help our communities to be strong and safe and supported.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/19/texas-abortion-travel-ban

[pfitz59]

1. And enforce this how?

Pregnancy test drive throughs at the city limits? Beyond absurd..

[BumRushDaShow]

4. It'll be like slavery times

when you had to have "traveling papers".

[BigDemVoter]

14. Exactly what I was thinking. . . .

"Internal Passports"?

[Warpy]

37. That's what they're aiming for, they don't want men to lose the last slaves they own

but they'll soon find out they have no jurisdiction over any US highway that runs through the area.

Setting up roadblocks on state roads will be as popular as cancer.

It's just feel good crap to protect the fee-fees of panicky mediocre men.

[Miguelito Loveless]

5. It is a license for the police to stop any car

carrying any woman or women believed to be of childbearing years. No way this will be abused. Also, a great opportunity for the usual crop of bad cops to demand bribes or extort sex from women.

[Zilli]

11. Wow! Bold ordinance

So, I picture every car traveling on the roads of any of these cities, being stopped and every woman being subjected to a roadside GYN exam and just to be clearer maybe incarceration until all of the lab work and pregenacy testing is completed...... amirite?
the new amerikkkan way.

[DBoon]

27. I bet a reward for snitching

[Midnight Writer]

2. The conservative GOP. Getting government off of our backs since 1981.

[TwilightZone]

3. Can't be enforced and it's unconstitutional.

Just ask Brett Kavanaugh.

"In a concurring opinion last month, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said the Constitution did not allow states to stop women from traveling to get abortions."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/us/politics/the-right-to-travel-in-a-post-roe-world.html

[moniss]

6. In addition it would violate plenty of "freedom to travel"

decisions the court has made over the many years. If you allowed this to happen you could end up with cities blocking travel for any reason they wanted to. Imagine a city saying we don't want people with brown hair or are Democrats or who are renters rather than homeowners.

[NutmegYankee]

36. Precedent doesn't matter with this court.

And the Right to Travel is an un-enumerated right under the 9th Amendment, so per the SCOTUS decision on abortion, it doesn't exist.

[moniss]

40. While the current SC does throw

anything it wants when it wants the analysis of whether it would violate precedent is just a thing on it's face. Like anything in the legal realm if nobody is going to comply or uphold it will lose meaning other than being factually correct. As far as the right to travel goes this particular activity also involves commerce as opposed to simply being "moving from one location to another". The commerce component is very important because there is also lots of case law regarding states and municipalities trying to hamstring other jurisdictions/people/businesses with prohibitions, taxes, fees etc. This goes all the way back to our earliest days when things used to go on with the canal system and plank roads.

The state of NY specifically because of it's eastern border was in a position to hamstring commerce from New England states and did so. There are plenty of other examples but the fact is you cannot have a situation where one state, let's say Illinois, says we don't like what people in Indiana believe politically and so if any Hoosier wants to travel through Illinois they have to pay us $100 first. By law the states/municipalities are restrained from interfering with interstate commerce that travels through their jurisdiction and also by law they can only pass fees, taxes in certain instances and they cannot come up with a byzantine scheme of laws that have the effect of prohibition of passage. That was all tried in the early days and shot down because you end up with each little jurisdiction being out of whack with the next. Movement of commerce requires a certain amount of uniformity so goods and services can flow.

In the case of someone traveling for an abortion in another state/jurisdiction the person is traveling to purchase a service provided in that other state/jurisdiction. Commerce. Imagine what it would be like if Wisconsin passed a law saying it's residents can't travel through any border town with Illinois to buy a car in Illinois. So then Illinois retaliates and says no Illinois resident can travel through their border towns to go buy cheese in Wisconsin. It could be never ending. That's why the commerce aspect is so important to this matter. So if a certain type of commerce/service is legal in one jurisdiction a state/municipality may not say "It's not legal here and you can't go there." That proposed travel ban obviously would also apply to anybody living in Amarillo. What the council is proposing is to imprison their own citizens with respect to leaving to take part in legal commerce/services in another jurisdiction. Rockford, Illinois for example cannot restrict it's citizens leaving to vacation in Nevada and use the brothels just because they are illegal in Illinois.

[Attilatheblond]

7. Unconstitutional doesn't count in Texas

Well, except in regards to any sane gun safety laws, I reckon. They're all in favor of 'unconstitutional' if anybody tries to put any limit on any firearms.

Women should find work, homes, lives in other states. I know, not possible for all, but a girl can dream: Leave 'em with no sammwiches and no nookie until they sober up there.

[Moostache]

17. With the current disreputable gang of thieves and villains on SCOTUS, 'constitutional' is a fluid term. (n/t)

[SupportSanity]

8. Didn't they try this before? Or was it another Texas city?

Guards at checkpoints at the city limits "Can I see your papers, please?"

They should wear Nazi uniforms.

[Grins]

9. Don't these "Christian" eff-twitts have something better to do?

Wasting their time on shit like this?

[ck4829]

10. People in the past writing about the 21st Century: We're gonna have flying cars and day trips to the moon

21st Century when it happens: No driving through this road on your way to get an abortion

[liberalgunwilltravel]

13. Even more important then!

Flying cars will be even more important then! Sorry for trying to bring some humor to a terribly dark time.

[AllaN01Bear]

23. am still waiting for one that folds into a briefcase when u reach your destination after landing

[liberalgunwilltravel]

12. Incredible

The incredible lightness of stupidity. And the incredible burden the stupid people have laid upon us.

[Marthe48]

15. This is nuts

Such intense scrutiny directed at other people's lives. The people behind this are like kids aiming a magnifying glass on an ant. Deliberately cruel and destructive.

[LastDemocratInSC]

30. Magnifying glass and ants.

I was fully aware of the practice because my brothers and their friends were considerably older than me. Our daughter wasn't interested in barbaric behavior so I didn't worry about her. But when it came to her 2 sons I made certain to never to mention anything about it to them. And, to my knowledge they never abused the little creatures with solar power experiments.

[Marthe48]

35. My older brother was the same

I have never shared the idea with my grand kids.

[Moostache]

16. Time for a convoy through Texas...

Let's bring so much traffic through Armarillo that they would have to stop transportation just to inspect every vehicle coming through...run it in waves and keep at it as long as it takes to grind them to a complete stand still.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes fascists.

[3825-87867]

18. The Thought Police have arrived!

If a woman, possibly republican, is driving to OK to visit friends and is simply pregnant and wanted to be, what then? Do the new "Red Shirts" test her and do they REALLY know if she's telling them the truth about WANTING to have a baby? Can they detain her until they no longer THINK she's going for an abortion? COuld they lock her up until delivery? Or if they decide she's going for an abortion, do they remand her to Texass Authorities for incarceration and re-education?

[LeftInTX]

19. Oh well, there goes their economy!

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

21. Yep. I used to visit Texas for tourism, conventions and concerts. Not anymore. Texas is dead to me. Fuck Texas.

If you gotta drive thru it, the panhandle is short enough that you can fill up in Tucumcari and refill over the border in Oklahoma. Pack a meal. Don't give them a dime of our filthy socialist money. They don't want it anyway as per the picture.

?v=1529517644&w=1600&h=900

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

31. I believe l-40 in the Northern Panhandle.covers about 170 miles

so yes, one could avoid stopping anywhere until reaching New Mexico or Oklahoma.

I’ve traveled cross country on I-40 a few times over the years and the only thing of interest to me in Amarillo was the Big Texan Steakhouse. I didn’t try to eat the 72 ounce steak; I just had a steak sandwich for lunch. It was also (hopefully) the only time I ever encounter a rattlesnake up close as they had one on display in a large glass case. This was over 20 years ago so I don’t know if they have one today.

With the political climate in Texas these days, this progressive with the Bernie Sanders bumper sticker would be quite happy to blissfully sail through the Northern Panhandle at the posted speed limit without stopping and giving the Lone Braincell State any of my money.

While I like George Strait’s music, the only thing “Amarillo by Morning” means to me is Albuquerque or Oklahoma City by noon

.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. Freedom to travel is in the Constitution, but it entrusts enforcement to the states. Tough luck, Texans. . . . nt

[sakabatou]

22. TMW repukes thought slave catching laws were a good idea

[Vinca]

24. Idiots. What do they plan to do? Stop all cars with women and administer pregnancy tests?

[jmowreader]

25. "Feel-good" but totally unenforceable law

As to the second part, where they ban abortion pills, I can just imagine...Karen walks into a police officer station with a sandwich bag.

"Officer Obie, there's a serious situation here that demands your complete attention, and I insist on an arrest. I broke into my commie liberal neighbor's house because I know she's fixin' to abort her pregnancy and took these two abortion pills, and I want you to arrest her right now and throw her in jail until she delivers her innocent baby which is to be immediately taken away and given to a loving Republican family."

"Ma'am...this one here's a Pez and that one's a Tic Tac. You say you broke into her house? Yeah, we can definitely do an arrest for you."

[Freethinker65]

26. Got stuff stolen out of our car in Amarillo. Never ever passing through again!

But, how TF would they ever know if you passed by to/from getting legal healthcare?

[SpankMe]

28. Republican - the party of assholes. n/t

[gay texan]

29. Thats going to go over real well on I-40 n/t

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

32. I forgot to mention in my earlier post

that the world’s largest cross (195 ft. tall) is along the eastbound side of I-40 in Texas.

I guess it’s the God Squad’s way of letting travelers know they’ve got their eye on you even if you can’t see them.

The nearest town to the cross (I am not kidding here) is named Groom.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

34. The future is Three Words

Paintball Drone Artwork. Imagine drones which can switch colours. Might be fun if I ever found a reason to do it

[Magoo48]

38. MAGAt, handmaiden, christofascist Texas horseshit.

[Scalded Nun]

39. I am so fucking sick of these assholes.

[Talitha]

41. Hey Amarillo, go suck an egg.

[Dave Bowman]

42. It would be interesting if people started boycotting corporations/organizations who are doing business in that town.

[BumRushDaShow]

43. IIRC, Amarillo is blue

and they were able to block that crap in their City Council. And that is why this latest effort came to fruition to get around the city's block and force the issue onto the ballot. I would expect the ballot question will lose anyway but the cost to the city for dealing with this RW nonsense, could have been used for things more beneficial for the city.

[Zoomie1986]

47. LOL Amarillo. Blue. Pull the other one

Amarillo sits across two counties. These are a sample of the results in 2020:

President of the United States

- DONALD J. TRUMP/MICHAEL R. PENCE (REP)
Potter County: 68.35% - 22,732 votes
Randall County: 78.54% - 50,597 votes

- JOSEPH R. BIDEN/KAMALA D. HARRIS (DEM)
Potter County: 29.67% - 9,867 votes
Randall County: 19.79% - 12,750 votes

United States Senator

- JOHN CORNYN (REP)
Potter County: 69.08% - 22,593 votes
Randall County: 79.48% - 50,926 votes

- MARY "MJ" HEGAR (DEM)
Potter County: 27.89% - 9,120 votes
Randall County: 18.05% - 11,567 votes

United States Representative for District 13

- RONNY JACKSON (REP)
Potter County: 68.44% - 22,366 votes
Randall County: 78.76% - 50,326 votes

- GUS TRUJILLO (DEM)
Potter County: 29.09% - 9,506 votes
Randall County: 18.99% - 12,133 votes

State Representative for District 87 (Potter County)
- Four Price (REP): 100% - 44,257 votes

State Representative for District 86 (Randall County)
- John Smithee (REP): 100% - 67,767 votes

https://www.amarillo.com/story/news/2020/11/03/2020-general-election-results/6150540002/

The Panhandle may actually have more racists and meaner ones than even East Texas. Which is saying something, since East Texas is pretty much Western Mississippi.

https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2005/11/20/author-uncovers-a-tale-of-treachery/31467019007/

[ck4829]

44. Oh really?

[mcar]

45. How will they know?

Idiots.

[Mysterian]

46. The kookery never ends with the christo-fascists

They want the USA to be exactly like Iran.