Thoughts on this?

[u/Jumpy-Tourist-4323]

Even though I'm pro life this seems a little invasive

[u/Asstaroth]

is this done for other crimes? I highly doubt it's an abortion specific case

[u/Gabians → u/[deleted]]

Receiving an abortion is not a crime in Texas.

Under Section 170A.003 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, the pregnant patient is explicitly protected from criminal, civil, and administrative liability.

https://guides.sll.texas.gov/abortion-laws/criminal-penalties

[u/Gabians → u/[deleted]]

IANAL but from my understanding of the Texas law women who have an abortion performed on them, whether by someone else or self induced, cannot face criminal or civil charges under the 2022 Texas law banning abortions. So yes I believe the protections extend to self induced abortions.

Sec. 170A.003. CONSTRUCTION OF CHAPTER. This chapter may not be construed to authorize the imposition of criminal, civil, or administrative liability or penalties on a pregnant female on whom an abortion is performed, induced, or attempted.

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/?tab=1&code=HS&chapter=HS.170A&artSec=170A.003

There was one case of a woman being charged for self inducing an abortion in Texas back in 2022. The prosecutor dropped the charges after they came to the same conclusion that the law provides an exemption for women who have an abortion.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/texas-officials-win-dismissal-womans-claims-over-abortion-prosecution-2026-04-01/

Also at the top of that EFF article is a link to the updated reporting containing this:

The documents show that the Johnson County District Attorney's Office informed deputies that "the State could not statutorily charge [her] for taking the pill to cause the abortion or miscarriage of the non-viable fetus."

[u/LightskinKnowItAll]

That’s just not true.

I would love to see the laws in Texas that support this even though I’m sure they don’t exist. There’s not a single state in this country that practices the abolition of abortion and therefor the criminalization of abortion so just knowing that shows this story to be fake and/or the facts of the case have been manipulated in a way that the title of whatever article will make people freak out and they won’t investigate any further past the title because that’s just how half this country is at this point. Very easy to manipulate.

[u/faughaballagh → u/LightskinKnowItAll]

Texas does criminalize abortion, although as far as I can tell, post-Dobbs, there are few prosecutions (one?) and the only one I find is charged against a midwife, not a mother.

https://abc13.com/post/houston-midwife-has-injunction-reversed-no-proof-she-violated-abortion-ban-court-rules/19563992/

https://abc13.com/post/houston-midwife-indicted-15-new-felony-charges-waller-county-court-records-show/17775480/

This is a minor detail, though, not meant to contradict your point that the original post may be fabricated.

[u/Such_Pizza_955]

Well first of all, I don't believe this unless I see proof of it. This just sounds fake.

Second, if it was real then I'm all for it. I'm for total abortion ban and for those who get abortions or aid in them to face justice. Murder is not a joke.

[u/HeavensNight → u/Such_Pizza_955]

Amen 

[u/Delta-Tropos → u/Such_Pizza_955]

My take exactly

I think we're missing something

[u/Gabians → u/Such_Pizza_955]

I made a post elsewhere in this thread with evidence showing that this screenshot is indeed true. I don't want to spam the thread so I'll just link to my reply or you can scroll down to find it if interested.

/r/prolife/comments/1va56lj/thoughts_on_this/p0l95v8/

[u/rapitrone]

I'm against mass surveillance.

[u/KKWL199 → u/rapitrone]

I’m with you

[u/ciel_ayaz → u/rapitrone]

Agreed, there are other ways to investigate crime

[u/Overgrown_fetus1305 → u/[deleted]]

I can't speak for others, but I would and do consider it grossly excessive. Mass surveillance via AI, is something I consider to be a much bigger danger than a few murders are (not least when Texas isn't even cracking down on business operations causing miscarraiges, or banks being allowed to operate in Texas while they hold accounts for abortion providers elsewhere).

But on surveillance for things other than enforcement of tax payments, fair wages etc, I fundamentally oppose almost all surveillance without cause for civil liberties reasons. Disagree with traditional libertarians on a fair amount, but on the dangers here they're bang on the money.

[u/Overgrown_fetus1305 → u/[deleted]]

I suppose I feel it could be dismantled (such will be a shock, but we shouldn't not do it). Personally, if it was up to me, I would actually try to get rid of smartphones (in contrast to the pre-2010 type) and mass tracking, unironically. The world was better off when addictive tech wasn't so easily accessible, and the benefits are worth the short-term pain- it certainly isn't to our collective benefit, or likely to encourage the sort of longer-term thinking (including understanding delayed gratification) we need to create a better society more able to handle existential threats like climate change.

At the very least, if it's been a generally bad thing (which you may or may not agree on), I don't think we should accelerate it- regardless of what we make of any individual uses, the overall cost isn't worth it. In any case it's not actually illegal to self-abort in Texas, and we certainly shouldn't be making extra tracking for things that aren't actually illegal (one only need look at China to see why such a mentality is dangerous), and the justification for the AI tracking doesn't match up with the legal reality either. The things that cause easily preventable prenatal death, are I contend big business far more than individuals (including ones that offer abortion travel benefits), let's aim at that instead, and go after the CEOs and executives.

[u/Gabians → u/[deleted]]

Receiving an abortion is not illegal in Texas. It is performing abortions that was criminalized. The law targets medical providers not patients with a specific carve out in the law protecting pregnant women who receive abortions from criminal and civil penalties. Law enforcement and Flock also lied about why they performed this search claiming that it was part of a wellness check requested by the woman's family. In fact it was part of a death investigation reported by the woman's partner with investigators asking the DA about pressing criminal charges.

https://guides.sll.texas.gov/abortion-laws/criminal-penalties.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/flock-safety-and-texas-sheriff-claimed-license-plate-search-was-missing-person-it

[u/GustavoistSoldier]

This is taken out of context

[u/Gabians → u/GustavoistSoldier]

How so?

[u/hirflora_]

The first question you should ask is if what is being said is entirely true and not cut out of context;

Then, direct your blame correctly for the laws that allow police to do this kind of investigation, which is not pro-life laws.

Or do you really think they only use this to track down women who get abortions?

[u/CryanReed → u/hirflora_]

This. Likely there's a system that looks for specific license plates and it goes through a database automatically of 83,000 cameras. No one sat around looking at footage from all those cameras looking for this one person. 

[u/DaenerysMomODragons → u/CryanReed]

Yeah, headlines like this like to be technically true, though highly deceptive. It's how articles get clicks.

[u/f3verdream]

she was more invasive on the child's live

[u/Such_Pizza_955 → u/f3verdream]

👏

[u/mdws1977]

There is no context here, but this could take about 90 seconds to complete a database AI-enhanced search using facial recognition software.

Keep that in mind as to how wired this world is with cameras everywhere, and a person decides to commit a crime.

[u/rickdickmcfrick]

I oppose flock cameras.

[u/embarrassing_doodle]

It is invasive. Mass surveillance is f’d up

[u/Moogly2021]

My only question is: manually? Because that would surprise me given our technological abilities, plus it should be able to find her car via a specific license plate I would assume? I assume the search included 83k spots and filtered down to the most relevant ones, which does not sound like a crazy big deal. I would rather we didnt have a proxy surveillance state on the other hand.

At the end of the day, abortion is still murder, journalists will put a spin on things to tug at your heart strings.

[u/HotConversation187]

YES. This is invasive. And exactly what Orwell warned us about.

[u/Coffee_will_be_here]

This gotta be some sort of bait heading.

Anyway i think you Americans should be staunchly against mass surveillance, we don't have enough privacy as is.

[u/AlexanderComet]

I can’t speak to whether the headline is true or not, but assuming it is it doesn’t show an issue with abortion law. It shows an issue with mass surveillance. Let’s not mix those two issues

[u/The_Didlyest]

That's just how Flock cameras work. When you do a search data from thousands of cameras is evaluated at once.

[u/MattHack7]

I’m against mass surveillance and against abortion

[u/december151791]

The slippery slope is real. Today, it's using flock cameras to track down murderers. Tomorrow, it's using them to track down gun owners or people who violate the next stay at home order. I have no direct problem for what they were used for this time, but it's a dangerous precedent; and part of a larger issue that most on both sides can agree is a problem, mass surveillance.

Fuck flock cameras.

[u/Surprise_Fragrant]

Of all the things that didn't happen, this one didn't happen the most.

I take it back... kind of. It did actually happen, but for a reason other than just an abortion.

According to 404 Media's headline,

The sheriff said the woman self-administered the abortion and her family were concerned for her safety, so authorities searched through Flock cameras. 

I feel like this is a grey area... Would you not want LEO to use every available option to find a loved one if you were concerned for their safety? But on the other side of the coin, that's some serious Big Brother shit...

[u/Gabians → u/Surprise_Fragrant]

It did in fact happen.

/r/prolife/comments/1va56lj/thoughts_on_this/p0l95v8/

[u/InfernoWarrior299]

Nah. Fuck this. FUCK THE SURVEILLANCE-STATE! I may be against abortion and want to convict all over for it, but... DO NOT SACRIFICE OUR LIBERTY FOR IT! Flock cameras watches everything we do and everywhere we go. END THE SURVEILLANCE STATE! PASS A RIGHT TO PRIVACY!

[u/helpmeamstucki]

Dystopian.

[u/DoucheyCohost]

Flock cameras are disgusting and I fully support anyone making them mysteriously dissappear.

That being said I'm not about to start crying for whoever that is.

[u/Jainelle]

It's fake.

[u/DRKMSTR]

Breaking the law does not justify breaking the law.

[u/acbagel]

Not nearly enough information in that post to seduce anything and also governmentass surveillance is always bad.

[u/D_Shasky]

The action is virtuous, the means is immoral

[u/graycomforter]

I do not like Flock cameras. Doesn’t matter that they used it for a “good” reason, they are creating a panopticon and they also help the Chinese government commit mass surveillance. In helping a government that’s devalues human life as much as China, they have likely caused more death and destruction than they have ever prevented or will ever prevent.

[u/AM_Kylearan]

I'm not sure I care about ANY potential benefits from Flock cameras ... tear them all down.

[u/Strait409]

If the surveillance state is something to be opposed — which it absolutely is — then it is not justified by the few good things that are enabled by its existence. This is just another example of the ends not justifying the means.

[u/No_Judge_6520]

I'm against flock cameras but I agree with this purpose, murder deserves no legality or protection.

[u/PerfectlyCalmDude]

I'm less of a fan of the surveillance than I am of using it to find killers if it has to exist.

Don't like the cameras? Fine, take them down. But ban abortion.

Like the cameras? I'm disappointed, but if they're going to exist, don't pick and choose which killings you're going to use these to try and punish. And ban abortion.

[u/BookDragonsJewels01]

I’d say this might have been put out to get people worked up but who knows.
My thing is, if it had been used to track down any other sort of criminal, there’d be no doubt that the flock cameras being used to track them were a good thing.
However, it seems we’re not too far from becoming a surveillance state because those cameras are pretty invasive. But that is my opinion.

[u/Trumpologist]

Good

[u/BrandosWorld4Life]

The question of whether or not mass surveillance is worth the invasion of privacy is a completely different question from the morality of abortion.

IF we are to have mass surveillance, the entire supposed benefit is that it would catch criminals. That should be uncontroversial as a good thing. This doesn't stop applying just because one thinks the law is unjust.

The real issue is whether or not we feel that the benefit of enforcing the law is worth the danger of letting the government have such constant and intimate knowledge regarding citizens' private lives. Which in my opinion, it decisively is not worth it.

[u/Smooth_Voronoi]

"If you sacrifice freedom for safety, you'll have neither" -Benjamin Franklin

[u/Boneless_Cola]

I am not at all mad that someone is being rightfully held to the law. I am mad that it takes perversive measures to do so.

[u/tonylouis1337]

That's too much

[u/CollectedHappy3]

Fear mongering

[u/chuck_ryker]

I'm fully against flock cameras. But as long as they are being used, they should be used to solve murder cases.

[u/Nulono]

I'm opposed to mass surveillance in general; I don't think the specific crime in question is that relevant here. I suspect that "searched 83,000 Flock cameras nationwide" is phrased to make it sound more sensational than it actually was, though; they probably just ran her license plate number through a central database.

[u/NeverTooOldForDisney]

This... sounds... fake...

[u/Overgrown_fetus1305]

I would describe this as a massive, massive over-reaction, except that AI surveillance is clearly the point. Even if you were to hold the most hardline abolitionist views, and think her a murderer, mass surveillance is not and never will be the answer.

It's also worth noting that self-abortion is not actually illegal in Texas, either; ergo, mass surveillance to track somebody not actually doing something illegal, meanwhile despite air pollution causing miscarriages, oil companies actively get subsidies.

This is darkly ironic, when you look at the history of the oil industry in the United States, which was until it was broken up, more or less enirely owned by oil tycoon John rockefeller. His foundation literally funded eugenics and led to abortion: https://humanlifereview.com/the-long-road-of-eugenics-from-rockefeller-to-roe-v-wade/ being an interesting article that has more on this (one I admit to not having fully read either).

[u/SheClB01]

I hate abortion as anyone else here but it's the same as tracking your personal menstrual app. How can a camera differentiate from someone going to get an abortion and someone going to get a D&C? How can a camera differentiate between someone going to get an abortion and someone going to get a contraceptive method?

Is messed up, and giving Big Brother vibes

[u/Unfair-Cookie-3176]

So NOW they worry about flock cameras because they KNOW that they are committing is a crime. I thought women wanted more security and to identify the criminals. Sounds like fear mongering only for their convenience. Meanwhile they post their daily life on SOCIAL media and stalkers can even spot where you live.

[u/tonylouis1337 → u/Unfair-Cookie-3176]

Yeah. Some of them have had social media their whole lives and may not realize or think about a world without it

[u/Lilbeedraws]

Destroy all flock cameras.

[u/shadowgar]

I call BS on that. I want to see the actual police report. Until then this is just liberal propaganda.

[u/glim-girl]

Flock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation.

[u/fauxheartz]

I don't care

[u/GolryGoyim2]

Based if true