Maybe they could spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a ballot measure to overturn it. It seems they had some success in the past with this.
Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
61–70 of 122 posts
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not disagreeing with the law being insane, but the difference there is that cab drivers drop you off / pick you up from a specific address. The other options are mass transport which takes you to the general area only, so they have no information where you're going.
I'm curious, though, can an Uber driver be sued if they happen to take a passenger to a school and the passenger commits a mass shooting? How would the driver even know the women is pregnant or going to get an abortion? It's not like there are clinics that ONLY do abortions.
Anyone can be sued for any infraction of the law, but to establish that a defendant is "aiding and abetting", it needs to be shown that the defendant was aware that the offense would be committed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiding_and_abetting#United_Sta...
However, since this law leaves the defendant liable for legal fees, it could be used to financially harm any defendant whether or not the allegation has merit.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#63>The ban leaves enforcement up to individual citizens, enabling them to sue anyone who provides or "aids or abets" an abortion after six weeks. i'm kind of puzzled by that extension of legal standing to everybody. I mean anybody who notices say a woman losing a bit of weight and that basically allows to file a suit, trigger discovery, and now the woman should prove that it was just a morning exercises? It takes Neghb…
> i'm kind of puzzled by that extension of legal standing to everybody It designed to maximize the legal threat surface for anyone connected to abortion while immunizing the law against the pre-enforcement review it would have been subject to had it been state-enforced. It’s a study in how to design a law for maximum chilling effect when you know you have an ideologically supportive Supreme Court but one with enough…
A non-profit sued it's way to SCOTUS a few years ago in defense of frogs.
Absurd arguments both for and against standing are hardly new, and most don't have statutory authority behind them.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#64Earlier 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.
Yes. I literally drew the Texas congressional lines in 2000 that set all this in motion and the primary goal of everything the state party does is to purge the state of people that don't vote Republican.
What software did you use back then? How did the process change when they started using software as a tool to gerrymander?
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#65Texas? Texas, USA? the land of the free... Are we going back on hunting witches?
As much as many people here won't like it, the lesson here is that there need to be strict limits on what kind of laws government is allowed to impose, period. You can't have some system where the government gets to have broad powers on things you agree with, but somehow isn't allowed to make laws about things you don't like. The only solution is being very narrow about what government can tell you to do. Personally, this law appears so ridiculous that I think existing checks and balances will have no problem rendering it irrelevant, but it should still be a warning about what government thinks it can impose on people.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
And if Beto will get out of the way and run for Lt Governor (where the real power is) so McCaughey can run for Governor we might turn things around
Probably a good idea not to threaten to take guns away from Texans, if you want to hold public office in Texas. - A former Texan
Most of my family lives in Texas. They're appalled by this law. But yeah, don't go anywhere near their guns. They've literally called the cops on each other over their guns. They have assault rifles by their beds and vaults full of Zombie Apocalypse ammunition and they didn't think the sketch below was remotely funny...
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#67Earlier 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.
Yes. I literally drew the Texas congressional lines in 2000 that set all this in motion and the primary goal of everything the state party does is to purge the state of people that don't vote Republican.
Whooo! Hold my beer! You literally were part of the group to draw the lines. Imagine looking back and seeing the damage it has caused in the long run. I couldn’t even imagine.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
It's certainly a failing of the flawed US democracy, but fortunately there are much better ways to implement democracies.
They all have their flaws. Parliamentary democracies, for example, are susceptible to minority extreme views having massive weight if they are needed to keep a coalition in power. Direct democracies are the opposite with minority views being ignored.
edit: Also, one needs to separate the impact of the democratic system from that of the social/cultural system. A country with a very homogenous population tends to have less issues under any system of government.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#69> 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…
This law accomplishes a few things that people are missing: 1. A stark reminder that pro-lifers aren't giving up, and that 48 years of fighting later, they are stronger and getting stronger over time. And that the pro-abortion side should take notice. 2. A law that, even though it will almost inevitably fail, in the eyes of pro-lifers, several dozen children will be saved (due to inability to get abortions) and thus…
2. Or it will just cause the women to get abortions elsewhere, or let the kids grow up in homes that can't support them. Not to mention the extra loads of single moms (or dads). No one will be "saved".
What it's more likely to accomplish is to make Texas even more republican, and to make the US appear even more crazy to the outside world.
Re: Lyft, Uber lash out at legal threat from strict Texas abortion law
#70Texas? Texas, USA? the land of the free... Are we going back on hunting witches?
As much as many people here won't like it, the lesson here is that there need to be strict limits on what kind of laws government is allowed to impose, period. You can't have some system where the government gets to have broad powers on things you agree with, but somehow isn't allowed to make laws about things you don't like. The only solution is being very narrow about what government can tell you to do. Personally,…
That's usually what constitutions are for.