Anti-abortion advocates proposing to block Texas highways

Llano, Texas - Some Texas counties are passing ordinances to ban travel on certain highways and roads for people transporting others to get out-of-state abortions.

Houston, Texas, demonstrators rally against abortion restrictions in the state, with the latest Republican strategy being to block off roads and highways for out-of-state care.
Houston, Texas, demonstrators rally against abortion restrictions in the state, with the latest Republican strategy being to block off roads and highways for out-of-state care.  © Mark Felix / AFP

The people who brought you Texas' "heartbeat" law are back with a new anti-abortion strategy: making it criminally punishable to use certain roads to help people access out-of-state care.

Designers of the six-week abortion ban are now pushing local ordinances that would make it illegal to transport a person seeking an abortion on roads within city and county limits.

Proponents of the ordinances are targeting areas along interstate highways and with airports in the hopes of blocking pregnant Texans' exit from the state, the Washington Post reported.

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Anyone who drives a pregnant person on the roads can be sued by any other private citizen, while the pregnant person would not face punishment – similar to the bounty provisions in Texas' abortion ban.

"This really is building a wall to stop abortion trafficking," said Mark Lee Dickson, a director of Right to Life of East Texas who has made it his mission to crack down on reproductive freedom.

Such extreme ordinances have already passed in two Texas counties. The latest effort in Llano was tabled last month, though it could be up for consideration again as soon as early September, while the Mason board of county commissioners has a similar proposal on the agenda for its next meeting.

Cover photo: Mark Felix / AFP

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