Executive
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signs law barring lawsuits against those seeking abortion
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed a new bill on Thursday barring legal action against people seeking an abortion or anyone who aids them, the Associated Press reported.
The bill prohibits abortion bans similar to the one in Texas, which allows citizens to receive as much as $10,000 for successfully suing a medical provider or person who aids someone seeking an abortion.
Inslee said the measure “is necessary because this is a perilous time for the ability of people to have the freedom of choice that they have enjoyed for decades,” as per Associated Press.
The number of abortions performed in Texas fell by 60% in the first month after its ban went into effect.
“Certainly, Senate Bill 8 has been the most restrictive and the most harmful and extreme in the country,” Bhavik Kumar, an abortion provider based in Houston, told Axios in December. “Many of my patients don’t qualify for an abortion under Senate Bill 8.”
Washington’s law takes effect in June. California, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have proposed similar laws to protect people seeking an abortion from lawsuits.
The Supreme Court is currently deciding a case on an abortion ban in Mississippi, which could eventually lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Abortion would immediately become illegal in at least 12 states if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade, and at least 15 states and Washington, D.C., have enacted laws that would automatically keep abortion legal in that scenario, per Axios’ Oriana Gonzalez.
Terry A. Hurlbut has been a student of politics, philosophy, and science for more than 35 years. He is a graduate of Yale College and has served as a physician-level laboratory administrator in a 250-bed community hospital. He also is a serious student of the Bible, is conversant in its two primary original languages, and has followed the creation-science movement closely since 1993.
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