texas government

Discussion Postings

Discussions of articles in the news will open your eyes to current events and make the material in your textbook relevant to your daily lives so that you will be able to listen to news radio, television, or print with a more critical ear. After this course, my hope is that you’re not just absorbing information, but you will get experience reacting to the news and examining your own opinions.

Two times in the semester you are required to post one news article which corresponds with one of the course chapters in that unit. You are then to comment on one other person’s posting with comments or reactions, however, observe the rules of netiquette when posting on anyone else’s thread. After you have posted your news article, please review your thread in order to respond to any questions your classmates may have posed to you.

Your word count for the comment should be a minimum of 100 words.

Note: You may not post the same news article (the same topic is fine, the same article is not) as one of your classmates. Doing so will cancel yours out. Each entry is time-stamped; you must be the first to post your news story in order for it to count. You must post directly into the corresponding unit’s forum. Please paste your article’s URL into the subject line of your posting and do not include the entire article in the body of your post. Your article must come from a credible news source. Please make sure you are NOT selecting an article which is an opinion piece or from a blog. Such articles are not appropriate for this assignment and will not earn you ANY credit.

Format: The length requirement is 300 words at a MINIMUM. You should include your word count at the bottom of your posting. Your organization should be in paragraph format. The first paragraph should be a summary of your news article. The second paragraph should describe your reaction to the article. In this paragraph you should tell me why you chose this article if you have any comments on the nature of the issue, and how you felt the author did as a whole in writing the article. The third and last paragraph is the most heavily weighed paragraph, which is the relevance paragraph. In this relevance paragraph, you should explain clearly the correlation your article has to the course and its current material. Your articles must be relevant to one of the chapters we are covering for the unit. In the relevance, paragraph be sure to cite your text with page numbers indicating correlation for full credit according to MLA citation style.

You must include your word count at the bottom of each posting.

Important: Your original posting must be turned in 48 hours PRIOR to the deadline to allow time for discussion and replies. Original postings which are late WILL NOT BE GRADED.

For resources on MLA citation style please see the resource librarian at TWU or you may use the Owl at Purdue web source.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html (Links to an external site.)

The biggest mistake students make with this assignment is length and not citing properly in the third paragraph.

Some credible news sources you may wish to consult include:

www.WashingtonPost.com

www.USAToday.com

www.CNN.com

www.NPR.org

www.DallasNews.com

www.TexasTribune.org

While these are recommended sources, you may choose from others if you like. Again, You may not use opinion pages or blogs to draw from or you will not receive credit. Your news source must be credible. If you have questions about a news source before posting, please ask.

Reply Posting Guidelines:

The second part of each discussion forum involves replying to an original post offered by at least one of your peers. You may choose to reply more often, but the minimum expectation is for each student to engage with one person in each forum. Please reply to someone who does not have any replies, so that every one may receive some degree of feedback. Your reply does not involve the same level of rigor as the original post, but it must be of substantial academic and intellectual value. Be sure to directly address the main points made in the original post and even offer additional sources to consider. You must reply to the same unit you are taking part in.

Simply cheering on your peers with phrases like “Good posting” or “I agree” will not suffice for this assignment. This is an opportunity for a real exchange of ideas, so make the most of the opportunity to teach and learn from your classmates. Any personal attacks are grounds for immediate removal from the course and possibly the college.

Again, your grade will be based on the quality and originality of your feedback. The minimum writing requirement for a reply post is 100 of your own words (excluding cited information from the word count). Finally, provide a word count and if needed list any works cited at the end of the reply.

Extra Credit Discussion Option – Additional Reply Posts (up to extra 5 per forum):

In each discussion forum, one reply is required as part of the activity. As incentive to keep the conversation going, you can earn up to 2 extra credit points for making up to 5 additional reply comments to your peers (1 required + 5 optional = 6 total). There is a maximum of 10 extra credit points awarded per forum, or up to 20 points in total during the course. This option only applies when you are a participant in the forum. If your work is late or incomplete, you will not earn extra credit. Once the deadline for a given forum has passed, so does the opportunity for extra credit on that discussion topic.

You do not earn extra credit for posting more than two discussion boards. If you post more than two, I will keep the highest two grades and the others will be dropped with a zero in the grade book.

ANSWER

Texas Law on Abortion

Summary

The article focuses on the effects of the Texas abortion law that has led to controversy and debates. The new Texas law has successfully banned abortions. The law bans abortions after six weeks from the patient’s last menstrual period (Alan, 2021). The article has summarized the new abortion law and how it works. The abortion law gas developed a bounty system. However, the enforcement provision has favored those that want to limit abortion rights but has also raised criticism and confusion among the advocated of abortion rights.

The law has allowed private citizens to enforce the law rather than the government.  The abortion patients cannot be sued themselves under the new law but any individual who aids or performs abortion can be sued by anyone. The law has removed enforcement from the state-run jurisdiction and expanded those who can use and those to be prosecuted over abortions (Alan, 2021). For instance, the statute has allowed anyone even those living out of Texas to complain in any court if they accept as true that abortion has been conducted. The law allows anyone involved in the abortion procedure including the doctors, insurance companies, and nurses to be vulnerable. The Justice Department sued Texas on the disagreement that ordinary individuals, if they are allowed to file suit in contrast to abortion actors they will be performing as representatives of the State of Texas.

Reaction

The article has interpreted a law that influences the society which makes it more interesting to improve the functioning of the law. The law on abortion has made abortion care extremely challenging and almost impossible to access. At six weeks most people do not realize that they are pregnant. The criminalization of self-managed abortion is unethical. Individuals need freely determine their reproductive lives free from the threat of criminalization.

Considerably, the law on total ban on abortion is ineffective since some people will now be forced to continue with pregnancy that will have a higher health risk than conducting abortion. Patients will be forced to carry unwanted pregnancy that may lead to high socioeconomic risks as compared to the wanted abortion. Established laws should protect the democracy of the citizens rather than negatively impact their rights. The government should empower individuals to sue over matters that they consider critical such as gun conventions. The author has clearly shown how the law on abortion works and how it will influence the society. It’s important to understand the legal rights since they are the foundation of the legal system.

Relevance

The article has focused on legal laws that are made by the government. The article relates to the role of government in taking right measures to protect the life of individuals by making laws that will safeguard the citizens. The government aims at developing laws that will act as guidelines to what is accepted in the society. Government laws allow easy adaptation of changes that happen within the society.

The article has focused on legal rights which are interests protected and accepted by the law. The legal rights ensure that the government or anyone that acts on his behalf does not interfere or take away the freedoms and rights unreasonably. Texas has many open government laws that have made the work of the government public and transparent. The article identifies one of the most recent duly enacted law on abortion which has brought about controversies and debates due to different legal opinions.

References

Alan, F. (2021). The Texas Abortion Law Creates a Kind of Bounty Hunter. Here’s How It Works. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/us/politics/texas-abortion-law-facts.html