The Abortion Issue
Originally published in the 2021 October issue of Shag Magazine.
It has been over a month now since Texas passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in America’s history. The law bans physicians from providing abortions and penalizes any person seeking an abortion if the physician can detect a heartbeat — something that can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
Needing to know you’re pregnant at six weeks — let alone having to seek an abortion during that time — provides a very short window of access to safe procedures, which can have dire consequences. This narrative back-and-forth between lawmakers and people who can get pregnant has been an ongoing battle for years now.
So why are we facing restrictive abortion bans yet again?
It’s no secret that women are vulnerable to repressive legislation. Indeed, all people who can get pregnant — including women, trans-men, and nonbinary individuals — are exposed to hate, violence, and laws policing their bodies on a regular basis. At the heart of the abortion controversy, apart from the conversation of one’s personal freedom of choice, is the moral question of whether it’s ethical to abort a fetus or not. Of course, following Roe V. Wade, abortion is technically constitutional — but that doesn’t exempt red states from trying to rewrite state laws to make it harder for people to access legal abortions.
And, unlike past abortion laws, Texas’ new legal loophole makes it trickier to strike down.
“The way the Texas law is written ensures that no government official is going to enforce it, meaning a law enforcement official or a state’s attorney will not execute the law,” says Julie Herrera, a civil rights attorney in Chicago. “Leaving it up to private citizens to file lawsuits to recover money is a strange law — but it’s a loophole that allows the law to exist.”
The Texas Abortion Ban targets people who are at least six weeks pregnant with the stipulation that anyone who helps them obtain an abortion is liable to be fined or jailed. What’s worse, people can receive $10,000 as a reward for suing other citizens for having an abortion, an incentive devised to help enforce the ban. With private citizens shouldering the weight of suing other citizens, the law is more difficult to challenge seeing as state officials are exempt from being the defendants in court. Given the way the law is structured, Texas courts can only rule on the matter if suits against abortion providers are brought to court by private citizens.
The ban is not the first of its kind. The Heartbeat Bill, overturned in Ohio in 2011, similarly targeted women six weeks pregnant with stipulations that anyone who helped them could also be subject to fines or jail time. It’s tempting to blame Trump and his merry band of religiously extreme dipshits for abortion’s steady slope towards eventual eradication, but the truth is: abortion has been controversial since it’s legalization in 1973 with Roe V. Wade, when the United States decided to protect pregnant women’s decision to have an abortion up to twelve weeks into term.
“In the 70’s, the Supreme Court said that a woman has a right to an abortion — but states have the right to challenge federal law, which is happening right now,” says Herrera. “The right to an abortion is very new, so you’re going to see a lot more fighting. And since there’s always conflict between state and federal law, this is typically a hot-button topic.”
Even in colonial America, abortion was condoned as a safe procedure, common enough to pop up in legal and medical records dating back to the early 1600’s. Attitudes toward abortion varied from colony to colony, but official abortion laws did not pop up in the United States until 1821. From the 1860’s on, states passed stricter anti-abortion laws — often as a means of preserving the white Protestant blood line. Apart from being rooted in racism, and the desire to maintain the white race in America, morality on a fetus’ status as alive is at the heart of the pro-choice/pro-life debate. Though a heartbeat isn’t found until three to four weeks during pregnancy, some consider life to start at the moment of conception. The legality of abortion is one thing, but the question of whether it is right consistently lingers over the conversation surrounding it.
Barring access to safe and legal abortion can have devastating consequences. Leading up to Roe V. Wade, several underground abortion clinics existed where abortions were carried out by nonmedical professionals. If people weren’t already self-administering abortions, they sought out others to aid with termination — sometimes at the cost of their own life. Though abortion was legalized in 1970, the 1976 Hyde Amendment, still in effect today, provided economic restraints for those who relied on the government for healthcare to have access to abortion.
Planned Parenthood v. Casey allowed leeway with Roe V. Wade’s previously established precedent, allowing abortions during a trimester where a fetus would be able to exist outside the womb, prompting Republican-controlled states to become creative with their efforts to restrict all abortions. TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) laws were one of these efforts: aimed at abortion clinics specifically, these laws single out doctors who provide abortions and require that the procedure be carried out in more complicated and expensive facilities, such as ambulatory surgical centers.
With the Supreme Court’s refusal to block the new Texas Abortion Ban, the outcome of current legal struggles in Texas will signal whether other states can follow suit in essentially eradicating protections set out by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Currently, challenges to the law remain pending in lower federal courts — but lawmakers bet the Supreme Court’s recent swing in power to the right could lead it to uphold Texas’ decision.
“In the case of the Texas Abortion Ban, the way the Supreme Court could overturn Roe V. Wade is by either refusing to examine the law or upholding the decision of the Texas Supreme Court,” says Herrera. “The United States Supreme Court [has] refused to stop the Texas Law on procedural grounds … Many have taken that as a hint that, in effect, Roe V. Wade will be overturned.”
Nowadays, when 90% of counties don’t have an abortion clinic, the Texas ban serves as another reminder of the stigma and negative perspective 47% of US citizens have against abortions. If the case is upheld in Supreme Court next month, many seeking abortions in Texas may have to travel out of state or find abortion providers in state by word of mouth, relying on the grace of private practitioners who are willing to risk their license and business to help individuals carry out an abortion.
“These egregious laws are only inciting us to be louder and bolder,” says Elisabeth Dee, the operations manager of pro-choice activist group Plan-C. “We’ve been told that sharing critically needed information and resources could increase our risk of being sued — but we as a team have unanimously agreed to continue to publicly share information, especially with folks who live in Texas whose human rights are being violated.”
Despite Texas’ new laws, safe access to abortion is still available for those seeking it. Many are turning to ordering abortion pills online as means of terminating pregnancies past six weeks. Effective up to eleven weeks into pregnancy, abortion pills are taken in increments of five pills over the course of two weeks. Plan C, a nonprofit organization that offers resources for women looking to order the abortion bill online, maintains the pill is incredibly safe and effective in terminating unwanted pregnancy. For people who can’t afford the price, Aid Access will help cover the cost or pay for the pill entirely.
“We are lucky to have modern technology in the form of abortion pills that are incredibly safe and effective,” says Dee. “We [also] have telehealth, which can safely and discreetly get people this medication without them having to go to a clinic.”
As access to abortion clinics dwindles, the abortion pill has seen an increase in demand. Traffic to Plan C’s website spiked 2,357% after Senate Bill 8 went into effect — with over 30% of new visits originating in Texas. For now, abortion pills are the safest route, but Texas is currently levying laws against the pill which would cut access to it in half come December 2nd. Despite this, Dee is confident people will take to the streets organizing, protesting, and fighting for the rights of women to access safe and legal abortions in Texas.
“People have options,” says Dee. “We work with so many incredible providers and advocates on the ground who are dedicated to helping people access medication and abortion in Texas — as well as those in other states trying to pass similar laws. We’re not going to back down without a fight.”
The abortion ban nestles perfectly into a history of abuse levied against marginalized groups as a means of control. This new law signals an attack on the personal freedoms and civil liberties of women — one that doesn’t look like it will be redeemed any time soon, given next month’s Supreme court session convening on the issue. As time ticks on, moving us farther from the point at which abortion was allegedly legalized forty-eight years ago, those most impacted by the law wait in agony wondering:
How long will this fight rage on?
