Article project
Assessing the Impact of Abortion Restrictions in Texas
Written by: Ava Mears Published on: September 19th, 2024
Upon the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in mid 2022 with the ruling of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Texas initiated a “trigger law” that went into effect on August 25, 2022, banning nearly all abortions and making it a felony to perform an abortion, except in cases where the mother's life is at risk. In the article “Gov. Abbott to Abortion Opponents: ‘All of You Are Life Savers,’” published on the Texas Tribune January 28th of 2023, author, William Melhado, quotes Abbott, who attended the 2023 Texas Rally for Life, “All of you are life savers, and thousands of newborn babies are the result of your heroic efforts.” Despite these flattering words, recent studies reveal that the infant mortality rate in Texas has increased. Featured on Jama Network, the article “Infant Deaths After Texas’ 2021 Ban on Abortion in Early Pregnancy” published on June 24, 2024, and written by PhD researchers Alison Gemmill, Claire Margerison, Elizabeth Stuart, and Suzanne Bell, reveals after thorough analysis of infant birth and death rates, that Texas has experienced a 12.9% increase in infant deaths between 2021 and 2022. Additionally, the study found that, in 2022, Texas had a 22.9% increase in infant deaths caused by congenital anomalies, while the other states averaged a 3.1% decrease.
Due to the forbiddance of this essential medical procedure, hundreds of women in Texas have since been forced to carry a baby who possesses a fatal condition to term. According to Mary Tuma, who wrote the July 9th, 2024 article, “A New Study Confirms That the Texas Abortion Ban ‘Is Responsible’ for a Rise in Infant Deaths” for The Nation, one such victim, Samantha Casiano, had a pregnancy in which the baby was diagnosed with anencephaly, a condition where the infant is missing parts of the brain and skull. Casiano “lacked the resources to travel for abortion care,” and had to watch her baby “gasp for air for four hours before ultimately dying.” This is a severely traumatic event that no woman nor family deserve to go through and carry with them, and as long as these restrictive laws are in place, many more tragic stories like Casiano’s will emerge.
“Politicians are forcing women to carry doomed pregnancies and give birth to babies who will live only a few painful minutes or hours. This suffering is man-made—it’s being inflicted by Texas lawmakers.” - Nicolas Kabat
Forcing a woman to carry and deliver an unintended and/or unwanted pregnancy can have serious future implications, including mental health decline and long-term financial hardship for the woman and her family. This is especially impactful for minority women, single mothers, women who already can’t afford to miss work or travel out-of-state, and minors who may not have parental support. Gabriella Francis puts this into perspective in her July 7, 2022 publication, “Counting the Cost of the Abortion Ban,” featured on Chatham House, where she analyzes and compares costs of abortion and costs of childbirth. She finds that abortion costs only range from a few hundred dollars to $1,500, according to Planned Parenthood, while the Health Care Cost Institute estimates an average cost of $13,000 for giving birth. However,
costs also mount after birth, with childcare averaging around $1,300 monthly. Women deserve a government that uplifts them and promotes their bodily freedom of choice rather than one that institutes intrusive laws that dig the vulnerable deeper into the ground.
Some anti-abortionists may argue that adoption is a viable alternative, but, in reality, it would only further fill an already overburdened foster and adoption system. Contributing to the issue of “adoption as an alternative,” Cecilia Lenzen’s August 12th, 2022 article “Can Adoption Replace Abortion? Experts Say It’s a Lot More Complicated Than It Sounds,” featured on the Texas Tribune, quotes Malinda Seymore, a law professor at Texas A&M: “Adoption doesn’t do what abortion does. It does not end a pregnancy, it does not relieve the burden of pregnancy, it does not avoid the health risks of pregnancy, it does not alleviate the psycho-social harm of relinquishing for adoption. It is not at all a substitute for abortion.”
Even in the absence of a medical emergency, financial struggle, rape, or any other factors, a woman’s choice on this matter is fundamental to bodily autonomy, a human right that has been long recognized. However, in a stunning display of government overreach, Texas has infringed on this deeply personal and private right of choice. In the Texas legislature, only 48 of 181 (27%) representatives are women. This wildly disproportionate ratio, followed by a right-winged, male governor, indicates that this decision is being made predominantly by men, who cannot possibly understand or empathize with a woman on this matter. On The Guardian, Mandy Catron’s October 11th, 2018 article, “Men Have No Idea What Women Go Through to Have Children,” shares, “Of course women are less eager to have children than their partners are; the costs–to our bodies, our careers, our finances–are just so much higher,” which well captures the hardships of labor and how it is easy for a man, who is not personally impacted by abortion laws, to make a selfish and narrow-minded decision for all women. Consequently, this ban completely reinforces gender inequality and undermines women’s autonomy over their own reproductive health.
Ultimately, we have gone back to an age before Roe v. Wade, in which politicians dictate women’s personal health decisions–an age where we see a criminalization of pregnancy and an essential form of health care perish. Although U.S. conservatives have temporarily won the battle over Roe v. Wade, the struggle for women’s rights will persist far into the future.