Portland wants to ban all imports from Texas after the state passed the strictest abortion law in the entire country.
Mayor Ted Wheeler plans to take up an emergency resolution on September 8, to ban all goods and services from the Lone Star state. If the resolution is approved, the ban would stay in place until the abortion law is overturned in court or Texas withdraws it.
'Portland City Council stands with the people who may one day face difficult decisions about pregnancy, and we respect their right to make the best decision for themselves,' the council said in a statement.
'The... 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.'
The move comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law on Wednesday that bans abortions after six weeks under the Heartbeat Law.
Most women do not realize they are pregnant until six weeks or later. The law effects up to 85 per cent of abortions for the seven million childbearing-age Texan women.
Mayor Ted Wheeler (pictured) plans to take up an emergency resolution on September 8, to ban all goods and services from the Lone Star state
The Supreme Court voted against blocking the Texas law that allows private citizens to start suing people and organization who perform abortions on Wednesday. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan dissented. The other justices - all appointed by Republican presidents - allowed the law to stand. From left: Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Elena Kagan, John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Stephen Breyer, Amy Coney Barrett, and Sonia Sotomayor
Portland argues that the Supreme Court ruled to protect legal and safe abortions in Roe v. Wade and the City of Portland will vote to block Texas goods until the state reverses its abortion law.
In addition to blocking goods and services, the city is also imposing to stop sending their city employees to Texas on business.
The city wrote: 'The ban will be in effect until the state of Texas withdraws its unconstitutional ban on abortion or until it is overturned in court.
Women protested outside of the Texas Capitol on Wednesday against the law that banned abortions as early as six weeks. They dressed in 'Ban off our bodies' shirts and bandanas
Among the Texan pro-choice woman, the City of Portland is calling other cities and states to join them in protesting the Lone Star state's law by not allowing Texan goods in until the state lifts the ban
Wheeler and city officials are concerned for the health and safety of pregnant women and protecting the individual right to access safe abortions. They believe in the right that women can control their own bodies and make choices they feel is best for them.
'This law does not demonstrate concern for the health, safety, and well-being of those who may become pregnant. This law does not recognize or show respect for the human rights of those who may become pregnant.
'This law rewards private individuals for exercising surveillance and control over others’ bodies. It violates the separation of church and state. And, it will force people to carry pregnancies against their will.
'We stand with Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Stephen Breyer, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who fought to block this attack on the reproductive rights, freedom, and autonomy of people across the country,' they wrote in a statement.
Portland is asking other cities and states to join them in protest against the Texas law.
'We urge other leaders and elected bodies around the nation to join us in condemning the actions of the Texas state government.'
Rideshare companies Lyft and Uber also also joining women in protesting the new law. The companies will pay 100 per cent of driver's legal fees if they are sued for transporting a pregnant woman to an abortion
The Texas abortion law has been in effect since Wednesday and drew a crowd of protesters outside the Texas Capitol in Austin.
Bound in 'Ban off our bodies' shirts and bandanas, a group of women protest the controversial law.
Women outside the Texas Capitol were protesting the six-week ban as more and more clinics outside of Texas were fielding calls from desperate women.
One clinic in central Texas, Whole Woman’s Health, performed 67 abortions in just 17 hours before the law was enacted.
Pregnant Texans flocked to the clinic, which was open and ready to perform abortions up until 11.59pm on Tuesday, in order to get an legal and safe abortion in this home state before the ban was enacted and they would have to travel outside state lines.
Under even more controversy, the law isn't enforced by the state but by Texas's own private citizens.
The law that took effect Wednesday allows any private citizen to sue Texas abortion providers who violate the law, as well as anyone who 'aids or abets' a woman getting the procedure.
The statute, which survived a Supreme Court challenge, sets minimum damages of $10,000 per banned abortion, to be paid out to the first person to prevail in a suit over the procedure.
Abortion patients themselves cannot be sued, but the 'aiding and abetting' clause is broad, and might even apply to a cab driver who knowingly takes a woman to get a banned abortion.
By handing off enforcement to private citizens, Texas avoided the legal pitfalls that doomed similar efforts in other states - but critics say that the move amounts to a hack of the legal system.
'The most pernicious thing about the Texas law it sort of creates a vigilante system where people get rewards,' President Joe Biden said on Friday. 'I know this sounds ridiculous. It's almost un-American what we're talking about.'
Known as the Heartbeat Act, the Texas law bans abortions after ultrasounds can detect a fetal heartbeat, which can occur as early as six weeks.
The abortion ban makes medical exceptions to save the life of the mother, but allows no exemptions for cases of rape or incest.
The new law allows anyone to bring a suit against abortion providers, regardless of whether they have been personally harmed.
Rideshare companies Lyft and Uber are protesting the law but funding their driver's legal fees.
Ridesharing companies Lyft and Uber have vowed to cover 100 percent of their drivers' legal fees if they get sued for transporting women to abortion appointments.
The ride-sharing giants both announced the creation of legal funds Friday with Lyft's CEO Logan Green saying the new law 'threatens to punish drivers for getting people where they need to go - especially women exercising their right to choose.'
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