Abortion rights activists rally at the Texas State Capitol after lawmakers passed several pieces of conservative legislation, including SB8. Photo: AFP
Earlier this week Arkansas man Oscar Stilley filed a lawsuit against a Texan doctor who performed an abortion and wrote about it publicly in defiance of the state's strict new 'Heartbeat Act', which bans abortions beyond the first six weeks of pregnancy.
Stilley, who is described as a 'disbarred and disgraced lawyer' in the court documents, says it is a win-win for him. If he loses, he proves the law doesn't work, if he wins he gets a lot of money.
Professor Mary Ziegler Photo: Florida State University Photography Services.
The Texas Heartbeat Act is unusual in that it allows ordinary citizens the right to sue anyone who performs an abortion, or anyone suspected of “aiding or abetting” an abortion. Successful suits can bring the plaintiffs awards of at least US$10,000.
Professor Mary Ziegler says the recently enacted act, also known as Senate Bill 8, is devious in that it gives conservative lawmakers everything they wanted - the ability to ban abortion with none of the risk.
Ziegler is a professor at Florida State University College of Law, specialising in the legal history of reproduction, family, sexuality, and the constitution.
She is the author of multiple books on abortion law, her most recent is Abortion and the Law in America: A Legal History, published by Cambridge University Press in 2020.
Professor Ziegler joins the show to discuss the wider implication of the new law.
