The Alternate Times

By Jedediah Blinks

September 20, 2029

AUSTIN, TEX. — The New Confederate Department of Criminal Enforcement has sent demands to more than two dozen abortion providers in the United States, seeking details about citizens of the New Confederacy who traveled abroad to receive an abortion.

“We cannot maintain law and order in our country if unfettered abortion tourism to the United States proceeds unchecked,” the DCE said in a press release. “It is a federal offense to travel internationally for the purpose of obtaining an elective abortion, and we will enforce our laws against our own citizens when they return.”

The subpoenas seek the names of New Confederate patients, the dates of their visits, and the nature of the services provided. The DCE said it will decide whether to pursue charges depending upon the type of procedure patients received in the United States.

“These subpoenas aren’t worth the paper they are printed on,” said U.S. Attorney General Rob Bonta in a statement. “The New Confederacy has no jurisdiction in this country. I would thank our neighbors to the south to cease and desist from harassing our citizens and our health providers.”

Since secession, the DCE has prosecuted 34 women for obtaining an abortion in the United States. The criminal cases were largely filed based on tips from friends and family in the New Confederacy.

The U.S. Congress responded in August with a law making it a civil offense for any U.S. citizen or business to knowingly disclose to New Confederate authorities the identity of a patient who travels to the country for an abortion.