Portland to declare trade and travel ban against Texas

Portland will be voting on an emergency resolution Wednesday that would ban trading with Texas and bar city employees from traveling to the state as a direct response to the state’s new abortion law.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler made the announcement on Friday, stating, “The Portland City Council stands unified in its belief that all people should have the right to choose if and when they carry a pregnancy and that the decisions they make are complex, difficult, and unique to their circumstances.”

“We urge other leaders and elected bodies around the nation to join us in condemning the actions of the Texas state government,” Wheeler added.

Texas’ new law has made it illegal to access or provide an abortion in the state after the sixth week of pregnancy.

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Everyday citizens and as well as government officials have spoken out and taken steps to combat the law.

TikTokers protested an online tip line that was created by the anti-abortion rights group Texas Right to Life, aiming to enforce the law by encouraging people to report violators, by inundating the tip line with memes, fake reports and porn.

On Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said he and the Justice Department would protect the reproductive rights of citizens by enforcing the FACE Act, which “prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services.”

“While the Justice Department urgently explores all options to challenge Texas SB8 in order to protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons, including access to an abortion,” Garland said in a statement, “we will continue to protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services pursuant to our criminal and civil enforcement of the FACE Act … We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, physical obstruction or property damage”