SEP. 8, 2021, AT 6:00 AM
By Nathaniel Rakich and Elena Mejía
It took several months, but Texas Republicans have finally enacted their much-debated bill rolling back voting access in the Lone Star State.
Back in the spring, disagreements between Senate and House Republicans delayed the final vote on the proposal until the last day of Texas’s regular legislative session, making it easy for Democrats to kill that bill by leaving the capitol early that day, since the Texas Legislature requires a two-thirds quorum in order to hold a vote. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott then called a special session for July, in part specifically to pass the voting restrictions, but state House Democrats paralyzed it by fleeing the state in order to prevent the bill’s passage.
The Texas law is likely the culmination of the large-scale Republican push to restrict voting access this spring and summer — the policy byproduct of former President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent. At this point in the year, most state legislatures are now out of session, so we are close to being able to close the book on our tracking of these restrictions for 2021. Based on data from the Brennan Center for Justice and the Voting Rights Lab as well as our own research, we now count 52 new voting restrictions that have been enacted this year in 21 different states. And 41 of the 52 were sponsored primarily or entirely by Republicans. Read more HERE about the 27 other state restrictions.
Abortion Rights in Texas and Mexico
Texas: In May, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed a bill banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected – as early as six weeks. (Note: Many women don’t even know they’re pregnant at this point.) Also, there are no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. The law, which took effect at midnight, is one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. And while a number of red states have passed similar bills in recent years, Texas is doing things differently.
Mexico: Yesterday, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that criminalizing abortion is unconstitutional. Mexico is home to the world’s second-largest Catholic population. And only four states (Oaxaca, Veracruz, Hidalgo, and Mexico City) have legalized abortions. Now, the Supremes’decision could pave the way for more states to make abortion available. And the move comes as the women’s rights movement has gained popularity there in recent years.
From The Skimm