Sue Gibson
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
Texas has passed a dangerous law encouraging vigilantism - placing a bounty on anyone who aids a person seeking an abortion.
This is not the first time vigilantism has been encouraged in the United States. Murders were committed as a result of the Salem witch trials in the 1690s. In the 18th and 19th centuries, "slave patrols" were formed to hunt enslaved Black people who sought freedom from white tyranny. The McCarthy era of the 1940s and '50s demanded that Americans rat out anyone suspected of harboring communist ideology.
Republican politicians apparently think these stains on our history are part of a fine tradition that they seek to perpetuate into modern times. And Texas' bandwagon is one that Missouri Republicans can be expected to eagerly jump onto. In fact, they already have: They passed the "Second Amendment Preservation Act" this year, empowering law-breaking gun owners to sue law enforcement if their guns are taken away.
Frankly, Texas and Missouri make me wonder why Republicans ever even wanted to be at war with the Taliban. They're keen to enact Taliban policy here in the United States, imposing religion upon government and subjugating women.