By Calissa Hagen
Reporter
On Sep. 1, every woman in Texas lost autonomy to their body when lawmakers passed what they called the “Heartbeat Bill.” This bill outlaws abortion within the state of Texas after six weeks, or when a fetal heartbeat is detected. It states that it, “PROHIBITED ABORTION OF UNBORN CHILD WITH DETECTABLE FETAL HEARTBEAT.” Then later the bill says, “Except as provided by Section 171.205, a physician may not knowingly perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman if the physician detected a fetal heartbeat for the unborn child as required by Section 171.203 or failed to perform a test to detect a fetal heartbeat.” (Senate Bill #8). Lawmakers did not make an exception for rape or incest. They called it the ‘Heartbeat bill’ because at 6 weeks a heartbeat can be found however, a heartbeat does not mean that the fetus can sustain life outside of the womb as a fetus can not sustain life outside of the womb until 22 weeks. Something different about this law compared to past laws restricting abortion is that the law puts in place a reporting system pretty much putting a bounty on doctors’ heads if they perform an abortion. (Senate Bill #8). Overall this law is extremely restricting and does not seem to take in the whole picture of how abortion works and the effect this law has on women.
We can argue all day long if a fetus is a real life, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. The reason I am pro-choice is that, in my opinion, I should be able to decide what I do to my body. White men, who are the main people who signed the bill, get to decide. By not allowing women to get abortions past six weeks, most women won’t find out if they’re pregnant for 4-7 weeks, which is too late for them to get one. Some pro-lifers will argue that if women find out at four weeks pregnant, they still have time to get an abortion. However, getting an abortion is a long and hard process. First, you have to deal with pro-lifers standing outside abortion clinics, and that’s if you can even get to a clinic and appointment on time. Women also have to do a mandatory therapy season before getting an abortion, which lengthens the process as well.
What is interesting about this law, is that every day people are reporting their neighbors, friends, and family. Someone who can report a doctor for doing an abortion can be a rapist. A person can rape a woman then sue the doctor who gave the woman an abortion. So in this case, that means that the law gives more rights to rapists than to women. There have also been multiple studies, including one done by The Lancet which is a medical journal, that has proven that the rate of abortions does not go down when abortion becomes illegal. When an abortion law like this is in place, the number of women who die from unsafe, illegal abortions rises.
Another piece that is different about this law, is that the supreme court is also doing nothing to stop the law from passing, because it is currently a conservative, pro-life learning court. Currently, this law is the strictest in all of the United States, but this might not last very long as many other conservation learning states are starting to try and pass their laws.
What is also controversial about this law is the timing. A majority of conservatives who are pro-choice are also anti-vaxxer. Anti-vaxxers are yelling “my body my choice” about having to wear a mask, but are yelling “save the children” when it comes to abortion. These two things cannot be compared, but if we were, having to wear a mask is not anywhere near the same as having the choice to have a child, including going through a pregnancy where women have to deal with horrible effects, not to mention giving birth as well as the financial burden the women face once they have the child.
Overall, this law takes away women’s right to their own body, while also not attempting to help pay for childcare or make birth control more accessible. At the end of all the debate, the only thing I have to say is good job Texas for giving more rights to a rapist than to pregnant girls or women they’ve raped.
