YouTube video

Texas just enacted the strictest anti-abortion law in the country. Senate Bill 8, which went into effect at midnight on Sept. 1, effectively bans abortions after six weeks into a pregnancy, before most people who can give birth know they’re pregnant. One harrowing feature of the bill is that it deputizes private citizens as vigilante enforcers of the law, enabling them to sue anyone they believe to have “aided or abetted” someone getting an abortion after six weeks.

On Wednesday night, just before midnight, the US Supreme Court declined to block the law based on an emergency application for a writ of injunction filed by abortion rights groups, securing a major victory for anti-choice conservatives. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with writer and longtime TRNN contributor Molly Shah about the implications of Senate Bill 8 and how it fits into the larger conservative onslaught on abortion rights.

Pre-Production: Jaisal Noor, Maximillian Alvarez

Studio/Post-Production: Dwayne Gladden

Creative Commons License

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Maximillian Alvarez

Editor-in-Chief
Ten years ago, I was working 12-hour days as a warehouse temp in Southern California while my family, like millions of others, struggled to stay afloat in the wake of the Great Recession. Eventually, we lost everything, including the house I grew up in. It was in the years that followed, when hope seemed irrevocably lost and help from above seemed impossibly absent, that I realized the life-saving importance of everyday workers coming together, sharing our stories, showing our scars, and reminding one another that we are not alone. Since then, from starting the podcast Working People—where I interview workers about their lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles—to working as Associate Editor at the Chronicle Review and now as Editor-in-Chief at The Real News Network, I have dedicated my life to lifting up the voices and honoring the humanity of our fellow workers.
 
Email: max@therealnews.com
 
Follow: @maximillian_alv