Since the fall of abortion rights, no abortion provider has been convicted of violating a state ban. Proceedings underway in Texas might soon change that. Last March, Ken Paxton, Texas' Republican attorney general, filed civil and criminal charges against a Houston midwife, accusing her of performing illegal abortions and practicing medicine without a license. Texas law permits penalties of up to life in prison for performing abortions. The midwife, Maria Margarita Rojas, has responded that the state just can't prove their case.
Affirming a ruling by U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield of the Southern District of New York, a unanimous Second Circuit panel found that insurers Granite State Insurance Co. and National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh do not have to defend Texas-based gun manufacturer Primary Arms lawsuits filed by the governments of New York State and the cities of Buffalo and Rochester. The state and local governments allege that Primary Arms launched a marketing and sales scheme that helped launch a surge of gun violence in New York, according to court papers.
In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has launched a campaign against the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. He has declared that the Muslim civil rights group is a foreign terrorist organization. Syed al-Ferdous attends services at the Maryam Islamic Center in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, every evening. Al-Ferdous says Governor Abbott's calling CAIR a terrorist organization shows a lack of education about Islam. SYED AL-FERDOUS: I think it's very juvenile, to say the least. It's very immature, and it just doesn't hold any water.
But, infuriatingly, her symptoms were clear: throughout her first trimester, she seized regularly and would be unable to speak for up to 30 minutes at a time. At five weeks pregnant, doctors noticed her hypertension levels were high enough to indicate an imminent heart attack or stroke. At nine weeks, she told her aunt she had a dream of her dead relatives inviting her to the "other side." At 12 weeks, doctors noticed severe clotting in her leg.
In Texas, we still see violations happen in subtle ways - like a landlord refusing to rent to a family with kids, or steering buyers away from certain neighborhoods based on race. That's all illegal under federal law.
