Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case about Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban where the state asked the court to overturn Roe v. The Supreme Court recently heard Dobbs v. Unfortunately, SB 8 is only the beginning: What is happening in Texas is not an anomaly, but a harbinger of what may come for reproductive rights in the United States.
This could immediately stop some or all abortion access in other states, potentially including neighboring Oklahoma - hurting more individuals and families by not only cutting off care in those states but also eliminating places for Texans to travel for care and pushing people of those states into travel or forced pregnancy. Supreme Court allowed SB 8 to take effect, and many are now considering passing their own versions of the Texas law. Conservative legislatures in other states have been emboldened by the fact that the U.S.
While these efforts are nothing short of heroic, they are not necessarily sustainable long-term or on a larger scale. Clinics have expanded hours to offer more appointments, abortion funds have increased financial support to help cover the cost of more abortions, and practical support networks have ramped up helping individuals with the costs and logistics of travel, lodging, and childcare. To help individuals avoid state-imposed forced pregnancy, abortion providers, funds, and practical support networks have stepped up to assist as many Texans as possible in accessing care in state before six weeks or traveling out of state. Abortion bans hurt pregnant people and their families. And it is Black women who will suffer the brunt of the sometimes-deadly effects of forced pregnancy: Texas has a severe maternal mortality crisis, and Black women are three times more likely than white women to die during pregnancy or as a result of childbirth. For example, undocumented immigrants in South Texas may fear interstate travel due to internal immigration checkpoints, and young people may be unable to take time away from school to get medical care far from home. The devastating impacts of forced pregnancy will be felt most by already marginalized communities, including people of color and low-income families. Although abortion is very safe, and much safer than childbirth, each week of unnecessary delay increases the risks of the procedure.įor pregnant Texans beyond six weeks’ gestation who cannot overcome the difficult and costly barriers to leaving the state, SB 8 forecloses access to legal abortion and forces them to continue their pregnancies. Even for those who are able to access care, SB 8’s delays from travel and wait times are pushing them later into pregnancy. The influx of patients has caused weeks-long wait times in appointments for both traveling Texans and local patients alike. Providers thousands of miles away now report seeing Texas patients, and neighboring states - such as Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma - are overwhelmed with Texas patients. Individuals with the means to take time off work, find childcare, and pay for transportation have made long journeys to clinics in other states in order to access abortion.
Those with the resources to do so have been forced to flee the state. Although the law has prohibited access to most abortions in the state, Texans continue to need and seek abortion care. Unfortunately, this means that SB 8 will likely remain in effect for the foreseeable future. Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Texas have ended the possibility of any relief from our lawsuit. Instead, the court refused to act, allowing the law to take effect while the litigation proceeded. Supreme Court with the opportunity to protect pregnant Texans and their families by exercising its power to block SB 8. Before the law took effect, we helped Texas abortion providers and abortion support networks bring a legal challenge in federal court that presented the U.S. The state’s extreme, privately-enforced abortion ban, SB 8, has cut off health care for millions - but it didn’t have to be this way. For more than six months, people in Texas have been unable to access abortion in the state beyond the earliest weeks of pregnancy.
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