A small town in Louisiana has passed a new ordinance that allows its residents to sue anyone who helps an individual get an abortion, similar to the Texas law that was passed and enforced last year.
The Pollock, Louisiana, ordinance, which passed through a 4-1 vote in the town council, bans abortion completely within the limits of the town. Even though there are no abortion clinics currently in Pollock, a town of fewer than five hundred people, the ordinance also bans the shipment of abortion medication to residents, and places severe penalties on anyone who helps an individual get an abortion. Private companies in the town are also prohibited from providing insurance to employees if the coverage they provide pays for abortion services.
The town council recognized that aspects of the ordinance cannot be enforced unless the Supreme Court rules to overturn Roe v. Wade later this year. Currently, only parts of the Pollock ordinance can be enforced through private action.
For instance, a resident of the town is allowed to sue another resident if they help someone get an abortion elsewhere — similar to the Texas law that passed last year, which the Supreme Court has allowed to remain in place while it is litigated in lower courts. Residents can sue others for $10,000 in statutory damages, as well as additional compensatory damages “if the plaintiff has suffered injury or harm from the defendant’s conduct,” including “emotional distress” that is the result of a person getting an abortion, the statute says.
The ordinance outlaws abortion at any stage of pregnancy. It makes exceptions for those who are faced with life-threatening pregnancies, but requires those individuals to provide evidence that they needed the procedure to avoid death.
Mayor Douglas Beavers has claimed that he believes he was chosen by God to enforce such a rule. But Councilwoman Cindy Dickey, the lone vote against the ordinance, cited her belief in God to justify her choice to oppose the measure.
Dickey is also supportive of measures to restrict abortion access. But “it’s between me and God,” she said regarding her “no” vote. “What God and I talk about, that is a complete separation of church and state. I think a lot of things in this rule are good, but the resolution goes way too far.”
Pollock is located in Grant Parish, a deep-red section of the state of Louisiana. Residents in that parish voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the 2020 presidential election, with 86.4 percent of voters casting a ballot for Trump and only 12.3 percent voting for Biden.
The move by Pollock officials to mimic the Texas-style law may indicate that such measures could pop up elsewhere on the municipal level. Even in states where lawmakers have passed legislation to protect abortion rights, jurisdictions within their borders could potentially seek to limit access for their residents, making it more difficult for individuals that are seeking out the procedure.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy