News
Reddit Prohibits Abortion ‘Bounty Hunter’ Subforum
Following the recent enactment, the latest anti-abortion statute in Texas, which prohibits women from undergoing an abortion after six weeks of gestation (well in advance of most women’s realization of pregnancy), has encountered significant opposition from local residents and the national government. Besides the restrictive nature of the law, an auxiliary aspect has triggered additional discussions and apprehensions; the legislation permits any private individual to institute a civil lawsuit against any woman who undergoes an abortion, any healthcare practitioner who performs an abortion, and anyone aiding the woman in obtaining the abortion, such as a ride-sharing driver escorting her to the medical facility.
This troubling legal provision has spawned a small group of “reward seekers,” Texan citizens who are actively pursuing women they suspect of contemplating abortion and suing them for monetary gain. On the same day the law was passed, a fresh subreddit emerged named r/TXBountyHunters, which, as per its description uncovered by Vice, was “devoted to exchanging pointers on identifying, reporting, and claiming rewards on those infringing Texas law TX SB8.”
Yesterday, Reddit officially eliminated this subreddit from their platform. Upon visiting r/TXBountyHunters, a notification informs that the group was barred due to breaches of site regulations concerning harassment content. Reddit opted not to provide any further comments on the issue.
Reddit barred a community endeavoring to collect “rewards” on individuals seeking abortions in Texas. https://t.co/yADzVYSKp8
— VICE (@VICE) September 7, 2021
Several other prominent service providers have taken analogous recent actions. Initially, the anti-abortion advocacy organization Texas Right to Life established a tip submission portal through GoDaddy hosting to allow anonymous tips about women receiving abortions. GoDaddy removed the website from their servers last week, prompting a relocation to Epik hosting, but they were also ousted from there on Monday. As of now, the website remains unhosted.
(function() {
var loaded = false;
var loadFB = function() {
if (loaded) return;
loaded = true;
(function (d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s);
js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v3.0”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
};
setTimeout(loadFB, 0);
document.body.addEventListener(‘bimberLoadFbSdk’, loadFB);
})();
