Let's set aside our views on abortion. Instead, let's consider one aspect of the new Texas abortion law that took effect last week.
All of us should be able to agree on this, whether we find abortions abominable or support a woman's right to end her pregnancy:
The enforcement mechanism created by Texas lawmakers is un-American. It farms out enforcement of a state's laws to vigilantes and bounty hunters.
Iowans who followed news of the new law and the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 decision last week to let it go into effect, at least for now, can be forgiven if they missed details about this enforcement mechanism. Lawmakers took the enforcement power away from government and gave it to ordinary citizens, the John Q. Publics, or to activist organizations with a strong motivation to track down women suspected of ending their pregnancies by abortion....
