The Texas Abortion Law’s Effect on Impoverished Women
Legislation banning abortions after six weeks has been in practice in the state of Texas since early September, effectively ending Roe V. Wade protections in the state. Roe V. Wade protections allow a pregnant women’s freedom to choose to have an abortion with out government restriction. The U.S. Supreme Court did not act on an emergency request to stop the new Texas abortion law from taking effect, allowing the policy to take action. The law bans all abortions after six-weeks, which is before many women know they are pregnant. This law also allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone who may have helped them receive an abortion.
The effects of the law have been profound. Women in Texas with unwanted pregnancies have been faced with tough decisions that are needed to be made quickly. Due to these restrictions, nearby states such as Oklahoma and Minnesota have seen an increase in the amount of patients they treat from Texas. As clinics fill up with appointments, people are getting later dates, making the procedures more costly and less accessible. Leaving the state to get an abortion is beyond the resources for many people, leading to patients returning to methods that don’t involve doctors. A professor at Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin said there already has been an increase of at-home terminations. The law isn’t stopping abortions, just making the process inconvenient and oftentimes, dangerous.
With these restrictions, impoverished women are suffering un-proportionally due to economic inaccessibility to other safe protocols. Half of American women who received an abortion in 2014 struggle with poverty, which is double the share from 1994. Restricting access to safe abortions keeps underprivileged women in poverty and preserves the cycle that is preventing them from social and economic stability. Women with resources are typically able to stop an unwanted pregnancy, by either receiving a medical abortions for a high price, or having the resources to travel to a state where abortion is legal. This plays into the factor of race; Black women have the highest abortion rates in the country, consequence to the serious wealth gab between white and Black families.
Luckily, the situation in Texas may be temporary. A hearing on October 1st will give the law’s opponents another chance to convince a judge to suspend it. Many people are uncertain if federal courts will block the law and worry that the mortality rates for pregnant women in Texas will rise if the law persists.
By Caroline Cranman