Roe v. Wade Will Functionally Cease to Exist in Texas w/Elie Mystal

The new abortion ban in Texas is absurd. Since the Supreme Court's refusal to take the case the ban has gone into effect in Texas. Now abortion providers won't perform the procedure on anyone that is more than six weeks pregnant. And if someone tries to get an abortion after the six weeks, or someone helps that person in doing so, they can be sued by anyone in the state of Texas. This interview previously aired on Peacock on September 13, 2021. Emma Vigeland discusses Texas' abortion ban with The Nation's Elie Mystal.

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Emma: We are entering into the most dangerous era for a woman's right to choose in quite a while. on the heels of the supreme court's inaction on texas's nearly entire ban of abortion, questions remain about the supreme court's place in American society and whether democrats will act in a way that meets the urgency of the moment relative to the court. Here to talk about all of this is Elie Mystal justice correspondent for the nation whose peace in the nation is entitled starting tomorrow Roe v Wade will functionally cease to exist in Texas. Welcome to the show Ellie

Mystal: Thank you so much for having me, Emma.

Emma: Yeah so now today tomorrow has already happened you know so talk a little bit about the implications of this decision.

Mystal: Yeah first of all let's be clear roe v wade is no longer good law. And the way that we know that is that if Texas’s law is allowed to stand. If it's allowed to stand for even an hour which it has at this point. Then there is no way to comport texas's law with roe v wade. people need to understand what roe v wade actually stands for. What it still stands for is what it used to stand for before texas right? Roe v Wade does not do not stand for the right to an abortion for anybody that's not what the case is really about. The case is simply that in roe v wade was simply that the government did not have a right to restrict abortions before fetal viability which is usually 24 25 weeks of gestation. that's it right? Roe v Wade has already been if not overturned significantly weakened in the 90s by a case called Planned Parenthood v Casey. it is actually planned parenthood's a doctrine that we live under right now with abortion rights. Planned Parenthood says that while the state cannot outright prohibit abortion before 24 weeks of pregnancy the state can restrict abortion so long as it does not place a quote undue burden on the woman seeking to access her constitutional rights. That's planned parenthood, right? So when texas comes in and says no abortion after six weeks well that's done. Row Casey that's both of those cases is done. Because six weeks a ban after six weeks is a ban that happened significantly before fetal viability at 24 weeks. There is simply no way that roe can be good law protecting a constitutional right to privacy before 24 weeks of destination and for texas to have to be a good law banning abortions after six weeks. So if texas law is the law then roe v wade is not.

Emma: Right and so I mean I think people need to fully understand how restrictive this law is and we'll get to the bounty element of it in a bit. But for a woman to know that she's pregnant or missed her period women's periods don't just start on the same day for the most part every four weeks it varies for some women to different degrees. And so I think the minimum you get concerned about as a woman if you miss your period is a week late and so that's five weeks already and now this law is saying that within a week you have to have set up a procedure take off work this is, of course, an immense burden on low-income poor people as much more so than wealthier people I mean that is just the kind of targeted unrealism of this law.