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Texas’ Near-Total Abortion Ban Is Sparking Outraged Responses And ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Comparisons

Everything’s bigger in Texas, which goes for efforts to ban abortion, too. A valedictorian recently switched out her speech to call out lawmakers’ successful efforts to almost completely ban the medical practice, after Ted Cruz called to ban the abortion pill last year. Cruz must be very pleased with the situation and his state (maybe he won’t jet off to Cancun again anytime soon), but the resulting problem is a dire one. Texas has effectively banned abortions after six weeks (without exceptions for rape or incest).

Not only that, but the state now allows any private citizen to sue someone (including abortion doctors or anyone who even gives a patient a ride to a clinic) who assists a woman in getting an abortion. This makes Texas very much a state that both supports the freedom to do with one’s body regarding masks and denies the freedom to do with one’s body regarding a woman’s right to choose. It’s a blatant attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade and Griswold v. Connecticut that has been upheld by the Supreme Court. It’s pretty much up to the states to make the call on abortions from here on out, and let’s just say that the comparisons to Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu are easy to draw.

Several Democratic lawmakers (and Rachel Maddow) have spoken out about the potentially unconstitutional nature of the near-total abortion ban.

This is not only very much a vigilante-type law (allowing private citizens to get in on the game, with monetary rewards) but also a scenario that mirrors what goes down in Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale. The Salem Witch Trials are also popping into conversation. People are outraged and afraid, and that’s more than fair.

Still, it’s important to remember that there are flaws in The Handmaid’s Tale as an all-encompassing comparison. Rather, financially disadvantaged and women of color are disproportionally affected by what’s happening in Texas, and it’s already making a detrimental impact among those groups.