Systematic Injustice Abortion Laws
Introduction
Our society doesn’t give women a lot of permission to talk about what they want to, or about what they need or to ask for help. Women are stereotyped as needy or seen as less than the average man so when presenting a problem nobody takes it seriously. This is the cause of many sexist actions that happen in society. Men have also been seen as the average human and women continue to be the “other”. That view of one and another is why women’s problems tend to get overlooked. As a woman in this society that is a scary thought that just because I am a woman, I am never going to be seen as the average human due to my gender. It is always easy for the government to take away rights from women than it is for them to take rights from men.
When seeing an article on the Texas abortion laws for the first time this year I was in complete shock that not only laws like this were still around but how much worse they were getting. I grew up in New York, which is a pro-abortion state, so this is not an issue I grew up around. Now going to college in Ohio who just released new abortion laws themselves which in my opinion may be worse than Texas. I am now in a new environment where abortion laws are restrictive. I was offended by the news media’s aggressive efforts to portray the pro-abortion movement as normal. This is because these protests have been going on for so many years that people do not even have a second look when seeing them. These protests have recently become prominent again with the new Texas abortions laws that empowered other states like Ohio to jump-start off them.
Texas Abortion Laws
The law created by Texas bans abortions states once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity or in another term about 6 weeks into the pregnancy. Most women do not even realize they are pregnant until 6 weeks so how is this fair to them. If a woman does find out before the 6 weeks and chooses to go through with the abortion, they are required by the law to have at least two visits. The first one is an ultrasound second visit to ensure you are still within the new legal limit for abortion care in Texas. If the second ultrasound shows you are past this new legal limit, we can still help you access abortion care out of state. This just makes it more challenging for those who still have a choice. There are also many other protocols such as parent permission if you are under change. They are doing anything they can to make it difficult for women to have this right.
The only exception to the abortion law is that a woman is allowed to have an abortion if the pregnancy puts the mother in a life-threatening situation. Even in this situation the Not even rape or incest are considered exceptions according to the law. I do not understand how that is even humanly possible for someone to allow a woman to not have this choice, especially when in one of these horrific situations. “In 2019, Texas reported 14,656 instances of rape, though that number is almost certainly an undercount” (Pollard). All those who voted on the Texas abortion law knew this information before voting on it. I think this is unconstitutional and shows how broken the government system is especially towards women. It’s not the government’s role to decide which abortions are good abortions and bad abortions.” This is because there is no such thing as a good abortion or a bad abortion. There is only needed abortions and all patients no matter their circumstances are worth having access to the best health care they may need.
No Male Responsibility
These women are forced to keep the pregnancy but where are the men during this pregnancy. You would think that babies are only created by women since they are the only ones who are forced to be a part of the pregnancy. Well, the men who are 50 percent responsible for the child have a choice to not be a part of the pregnancy. Why do men have this decision well the women in the situation do not. I’ll tell you why it’s because our society has created this idea that it’s the women’s fault, they got pregnant in the first place. Women are stereotyped as “sluts” and men are not. It never seems to be the man’s fault it is almost as if women get pregnant by themselves. I feel as some people forget that a child is 50 percent their father’s DNA and 50 percent their Mother’s DNA. I think Texas needs a law holding fathers to account, if they make abortions illegal, they should make it illegal for men to desert women after getting them pregnant. If women can’t back out of pregnancies, men shouldn’t be able to either.
Abortion Law Allows Citizens to Sue
This law allows citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone else they suspect of helping a woman obtain an abortion. This law shifts the method of how laws are normally enforced. This act removes the government and law enforcement from enforcing the act and hands the enforcement over to private citizens. It’s believed to be the first type of law enforced by private citizens. If the lawsuit is successful, “the plaintiff is eligible to receive $10,000 in damages plus the cost of legal fees”. It’s believed this bounty law will increase the number of lawsuits filed in Texas. This is only going to cause more conflict in our country than there already is which is scary to me.
Mental/Physical effects on Women
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnU3JwZiv8c
One big is Economic hardship because about half of people who are obtaining an abortion already live below the poverty level. When someone is already struggling financially and are denied care it put them in an even tougher economic situation. These people likely experience debt, bankruptcy, and even infections compared to those able to get care. Being denied an abortion can also lead to an increase in anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem especially in the months after being denied care. It can also increase life-threatening physical health so when women who carry unwanted pregnancies to term are more likely to have pregnancy risks such as postpartum depression, gestational diabetes, and even hypertension.
Highest affected groups
Some groups that are most affected by this law more than some others are teenagers, who often don’t realize they are pregnant until later in pregnancy, people with low-income status, people of color, and immigrants without legal status. These groups are not only being oppressed due to their gender but due to their age, race, and finical status. To fully grasp the damage the law will do to Black and brown people of childbearing age and their offspring, it is important to understand that the state’s health care system has been failing them for years. “Black infants in Texas were twice as likely as white infants to die before their first birthday”. Throughout our history, policies and laws have worsened racial inequities and the impacts of systemic racism in our health care system and beyond.
How the Media Can Help the Issue
Most of the time the media shows this issue as nothing that major just another day in America. They usually just talk about the political side of everything that is taking place. They never get sources who are being harmed by the issue. We need to see more of a women’s point of view and their personal stories to show the feeling and emotion behind the problem. With this, we can see what they are having to go through how they are dealing with everything. People can connect with these women allowing for the message to be internalized. The women who are experiencing this oppression are the media’s best sources to truly understand what is happening in our country. With this, the message can spread and have a bigger impact.
Ways People Have Created Change
The anti-abortion movement has gained the most momentum over the years. Many churches sponsor related ministries, and a recent calendar of events published by an anti-abortion website includes rallies, retreats for men who suffer from the grief, anger, and guilt of terminating a pregnancy, annual walks, and runs and hikes. Billboards denouncing abortion, with graphic images, have dotted the highways. There are also donation sights where you can donate to help these movements so that you can help even if you cannot make it in person. I believe that the enabling legal environment is just the first step toward enabling people to exercise reproductive autonomy and to access safe abortion care.
The United States vs Other Countries Abortion Laws
Recently the United States has made it harder in parts of the country to get an abortion, unlike many other countries that have been doing the opposite. Mexico just recently had a supreme court ruling to decriminalize the practice. Meanwhile, New Zealand, Thailand, and Ireland have all taken steps to ease abortion restrictions in recent years. I think very few Americans realize just how radical and out-of-step America’s abortion laws are in comparison to the rest of the world. In Europe, many countries offer broad exceptions after the first three months for socioeconomic reasons like unemployment, medical issues like fetal impairment, or social issues like the age of the mother. I do not know about anyone else, but doesn’t this just shock you how many other countries are willing to give women these rights they deserve and in the United States women have been fighting this for as long as I have been alive.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2021/09/07/why-gender-war-wont-work-fighting-new-texas-abortion-law/5692537001/
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/579944-ohio-lawmakers-introduce-abortion-bill-that-goes-further-than-texas-law
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2021/texass-new-abortion-law-will-harm-people-color-further-entrench-racist-policies