Texas Abortion Ban

Texas voters have been fighting over abortion for a while. A law in 2013 that would have closed more than half of the abortion clinics in Texas, but it was blocked by the supreme court. In September 2021 there a new law that bans abortion after six weeks went into effect.

Many protests have been happening since this bill has been passed. Previously abortions were allowed up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy. This will be one of the strictest abortion laws in the United States. Leaders in Texas have expressed that all people deserve life and that no one should have the right to take that away. “Our creator endowed us with the right to life and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion,” said Governor Abbott according to The Texas Tribune in a bill signing ceremony on how he feels about abortion. The bill bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The new law will rely on private citizens to penalize the accused. “It’s a very unique law and it’s a very clever law,” said Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. This does not happen often; the government normally enforces this legislation.

This is what makes the new abortion law different than most other states who have a strict abortion policy.  Abortion funds, rape counselors, and other abortion advocates could be open to lawsuits. This also makes it very hard to challenge the law. Plaintiffs can get $10,000 if they sue someone for having an abortion, even if they have no connection to the patient or clinic. Doctors can be sued for doing the abortions or even by the definition of the law, “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion, including paying for or reimbursing the costs of an abortion through insurance or otherwise.” This includes anybody who helps a woman do anything involved in the abortion, even someone who gives a phone number to a clinic, someone who drives her there, or anyone who helps in any way to get a woman an abortion.

The governor has issued many statements regarding this new bill. Doctors say once they miss their period, they are already 4 weeks pregnant. That only gives them 2 weeks to figure out if they are pregnant and to decide to get an abortion and to actually get the abortion. Instances of rape and incest are often discussed when on the topic of abortion. This law does not make an exception for either one. This is one of the most controversial aspects of the new law. The law does allow abortions for health reasons, but these are rarely accepted or allowed.

Governor Abbott has talked about this in an interview with Austin-American Statesman saying, “It provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion.” For one, it assumes that you know about the abortion as soon as you get pregnant. This however is not the case in most circumstances. That said, Texas law clearly recognizes that rape is a crime. Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets.”

The new law will affect thousands of women looking for abortions in Texas, although the exact number of women is difficult to pin down. In 2020, there were about 54,000 abortions in the state of Texas. More than 45,000 of them were at 8 weeks or less into the pregnancy. Many citizens have protested this law. There has been public disapproval across the country. Pres. Joe Biden has even posted a statement on Twitter saying “We’re facing an all-out assault on our democracy.” Vice Pres. Kamala Harris has also expressed her displeasure in a few tweets. Other republican favoring politicians have stated that they don’t know what to think about it just yet.

“I will tell you this, we do have a Supreme Court that’s a lot different than it was before it was acting very strangely, and I think probably not in the interests of our country. I’m studying it right now. I know that the ruling was very complex and probably temporary,” Trump said in an interview on Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s Full Measure.