Why is this relevant to Hacker News?
Why isn’t it?
Yup, people could have startups on here that can be sued for aiding and abetting abortion patients and providers.
Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
41–50 of 122 posts
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#42[deleted]
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if that's a partial goal of this law. Keep the state red and have those who are more liberal leave. Ensures a nice voting block for national elections and ensures local officials do not get voted out in the future.
With such laws in place, if I would live in US there would be no place for people like me, not blue and not red (and partly blue and partly red on various topics). This is because none of the 2 sides are perfect and many people do not fall in one side. So what is the point?
This is a law in one state out of 50 so you have a decent choice of other options.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if that's a partial goal of this law. Keep the state red and have those who are more liberal leave. Ensures a nice voting block for national elections and ensures local officials do not get voted out in the future.
With such laws in place, if I would live in US there would be no place for people like me, not blue and not red (and partly blue and partly red on various topics). This is because none of the 2 sides are perfect and many people do not fall in one side. So what is the point?
That's a failing of democracy isn't it. One optimum is to make it so the only people in your jurisdiction are those that all want the same thing. This is an argument for a strong constitution and court system and against direct democracy.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#45This law is quite insane, and it seems entirely rational to oppose your drivers being liable simply for driving woman to a clinic.
Don’t be ridiculous. The whole thing about this potentially causing problems for women going in for an innocent appointment is a smokescreen, just like using edge cases to justify abortion as a whole (the way to test this is to ask whether such a person would agree to restricting abortion to just those cases). The real problem those on the left have with this law is that it is a major advance against abortion, pure a…
> Sec. 171.208. CIVIL LIABILITY FOR VIOLATION OR AIDING OR
ABETTING VIOLATION. (a) Any person, other than an officer or
employee of a state or local governmental entity in this state, may
bring a civil action against any person who:
(1) performs or induces an abortion in violation of
this subchapter;
(2) knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets
the performance or inducement of an abortion, including paying for
or reimbursing the costs of an abortion through insurance or
otherwise, if the abortion is performed or induced in violation of
this subchapter, regardless of whether the person knew or should
have known that the abortion would be performed or induced in
violation of this subchapter;
Anyone that "knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion" is liably under this new law. That's a very broad statement that can easily target a lot of people.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#46Might be nice to see major airlines, and airbnb (and competitors) offering free travel and accommodation to texan women traveling to other states for abortion-related procedures, and similar legal protection for participating airbnb hosts. Sure, it's partly lame for companies to take this as an opportunity for good PR, but free travel and accommodation might actually help, and it would be nice for republican texas to see how ostracized they are.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#47This law is insane. So say I'm an Uber driver, woman gets into my car and I take her to Whole Foods for example. Two weeks later I get court papers saying that I'm getting sued for aiding in an abortion because the woman crossed the street and went to the abortion clinic instead of Whole Foods. I don't see how this could possibly hold up in court.
But most Uber drivers may not have the money to defend themselves properly in court, so it is a scare tactic.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as I understand that's one of the more insane parts of this law. You don't need to show you suffered any harm or loss, absolutely anyone can sue under this law.
It's probably using some twisted justification like saying that abortions cause harm to society as a whole, and that gives any member of society standing.
So raising a child in very suboptimal conditions is high chance of child turning criminal later on. Or parents dropping put of school to provide for the child. It can well be argued both ways.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#49This law is insane. So say I'm an Uber driver, woman gets into my car and I take her to Whole Foods for example. Two weeks later I get court papers saying that I'm getting sued for aiding in an abortion because the woman crossed the street and went to the abortion clinic instead of Whole Foods. I don't see how this could possibly hold up in court.
It doesn’t have to hold up in court. If you are sued and get good representation, they just drop the case. You are not entitled to attorney’s fees under the law. If you do not have good representation, they get a $10000 minimum award. Because there are thousands of officials who individually decide cases who don’t work for the state government, you can’t just sue the attorney general to stop enforcement. The law is designed so it doesn’t have to hold up in court — it’s designed so that no one has standing to challenge it or authority to be challenged on it. No recourse equals maximum enforcement.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#50This law is insane. So say I'm an Uber driver, woman gets into my car and I take her to Whole Foods for example. Two weeks later I get court papers saying that I'm getting sued for aiding in an abortion because the woman crossed the street and went to the abortion clinic instead of Whole Foods. I don't see how this could possibly hold up in court.
Technically speaking, the law says "knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion."
Thus you have a case you didn't knowingly do it. I'm only speaking technically though.