Anti-abortion groups and conservative leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, picked up the images of a heartbeat as they described the law. Dr. Braid was subsequently sued by two plaintiffs, neither of whom opposed abortion, but both decided to sue so that the legality of the law could be reviewed. 17 Under Texas law, doctors can be sued by almost anyone if they perform an abortion. In a tweet, the Texas Alliance for Life, an Austin-based anti-abortion group, posted a photo of its members with Abbott signing the bill, both hands raised to create a symbolic heart. I`ve heard of many people experiencing housing insecurity who struggle to quickly understand how to travel hundreds of miles out of state to access abortion treatment. And it`s been difficult to access abortion as a Texan before, especially for low-income people, black women, Indigenous peoples, people of color, undocumented migrants, our queer and transgender communities, people with disabilities, and youth. SB 8 is racist, classist and ableist, and these communities are the first to suffer the effects of abortion restrictions. Some people who live in South Texas have no way to leave the state because of border checkpoints. Getting abortion care is hard for everyone in Texas, but now it may be completely impossible and will continue to be the hardest for those Texans. In some cases, the infection can become serious or life-threatening, leading to sepsis, hysterectomy, or even death. In 2012, a woman died in Ireland after her waters ruptured after 17 weeks and doctors refused to allow her to have an abortion.
The case sparked a movement that led to the lifting of Ireland`s abortion ban in 2018. The state`s largest anti-abortion lobby group, Texas Right to Life, has already helped anti-abortion activists enforce the law by creating a website inviting “whistleblowers” to report SB8 violations. (In response, pro-choice advocates flooded digital signup forms with satirical information.) “On the morning of September 6, I aborted a woman who, although still in her first trimester, was beyond the new state border. I acted because I owed a duty of care to this patient, as I do to all patients, and because she has a fundamental right to receive this treatment. I fully understood that there could be legal consequences — but I wanted to make sure Texas wouldn`t get away with trying to prevent this blatantly unconstitutional law from being tested. Similar “heartbeat laws” were passed in other states, but were ultimately blocked by federal courts before they went into effect. These bills are based on model legislation from Faith2Action Ministries, a Christian anti-abortion organization that defines a fetal heartbeat as a marker of an “unborn human individual.” “They know they`re portraying this woman as this person who doesn`t care about her life, doesn`t care about the lives of the children she creates or anything. And she comes out recklessly and carelessly and aborts everyone arbitrarily, left and right,” she said. “Abortions are sometimes necessary for an emergency act, an act to save a woman`s life.
Or hell – honestly, it shouldn`t even get to the point where you have to save a woman`s life. Elizabeth Weller never imagined that her hopes of having a child would be caught up in the web of Texas abortion law. The most popular view of moral status among the lay public is that during pregnancy, the fetus gradually acquires an increasing moral status, which means that abortion requires much stronger justification in advanced pregnancies. This account does not support Texas law. Even if the precocious fetus is granted some moral (or even complete) status, this must be weighed against the interests and autonomy of the pregnant woman. 53 As we have explained, the law poses a serious threat to both women`s health and autonomy. While things may seem isolating and scary right now, I want Texans to remember that abortion is still legal in all 50 states. SB 8 may limit abortion to about six weeks, but be sure to stay in touch with abortion funds and advocates; Things can often change quickly and misinformation around SB 8 spreads. We`re here to help clear up confusion and get the resources you need. The law “immediately and catastrophically reduces access to abortion in Texas,” say the state`s abortion providers, and is likely to force many abortion clinics to eventually close. This will prevent the majority of Texas women (85%) from accessing abortion treatments, as most don`t know they`re already six weeks pregnant.
DERMISH: People are losing access to abortion treatments amid a raging pandemic. You know, COVID hasn`t gone down in many places, including Texas. It`s worse than ever. And yet, we are banning people from accessing care close to home, and forcing them to seek care outside the state. It is important to note that not all self-administered abortions are necessarily dangerous. Contemporary reports on self-management in the United States have revealed that many of the self-administered abortions are not necessarily the product of the use of sharps or backyard vendors, but rather of drugs such as mifepristone and misoprostol. 33 It is assumed that this goes hand in hand with the rise of the Internet as a `one-stop shop for information and services`. 33 Previous research has shown that medical abortion is prevalent among the Texas population, in part because of its proximity to the Mexican border, where medical abortion can be obtained more easily due to Latin America`s large immigrant population (which tends to be familiar with self-administered abortion and navigates restrictive abortion laws). 34 The law will require most patients to travel out of state for treatment, increasing the distance to an abortion clinic twenty times — from an average of 12 miles to 248 miles each way, nearly 500 miles round trip, the Guttmacher Institute found. And that`s only if patients have the resources to do so, including time off work, the ability to pay for the procedure, and in some cases, childcare.
The most sweeping abortion law in the United States has gone into effect, despite legal efforts to block it. Although it was difficult to access abortion in Texas, the staff at my clinic and the abortion fund that helped me were wonderful, and it was powerful for me. All I am now as a person is because I had an abortion. It allowed me to be the parents I wanted to be, led me to a career I love, and it was the first time I really understood what it means to be an abortion rights advocate. We may have the right to a legal abortion, but that doesn`t mean it`s accessible. Under SB 8, this is truer than ever, but we will continue to fight for our right to safe and legal abortion, regardless of our zip code and no matter how much money we make, no matter what. Texas is already one of the hardest states in the U.S. to access abortion, as the Republican-dominated legislature has enacted a number of state laws over the past decade, including a 24-hour waiting period, a 20-week ban on abortion, restrictions on telemedicine, and a ban on private and public insurance.
