Overview of Senate Bill 8 and House Bill 480 [Lesly]
Throughout history, women have been fighting for equal rights, protesting and creating movements towards creating a better future for women. This has allowed many opportunities and choices for women, for example, the right to vote. But recently, for women like Nicole, who had just found out she was pregnant at six weeks, was faced with a decision, whether to have an abortion or not to, with little to no time due to the new abortion law enacted in Texas.
Nicole is just one of many who have been struck with this law. In Texas, many women are in fear due to the fact there is now a law in place that is giving them a small timeframe to make such a grand decision. Women all over the state are now forced to make this choice with no time to think or plan ahead for their futures.
The ban in Texas, Senate Bill 8, went into effect on September 1st, 2021, and was signed in May by Governor Greg. The bill bans abortion as soon as a heartbeat is detected, which is typically about six weeks during pregnancy and for most, before they even find out they are pregnant at all (McCammon, NPR). In the past, states have tried something similar to what Texas has recently put in place, but it never worked or passed through. However, now that Texas has passed this bill, more states are beginning to jump on board. In fact, just two months after Texas passed SB8, Ohio introduced a new bill, copying that of Texas, but taking it to even more of an extreme. House Bill 480 would ban all abortions, regardless of how far into the term, including pregnancies caused as a result of rape, incest, or sexual abuse. As more states have begun questioning whether or not they too should put a similar ban into effect, many women are left with concern for the future of the United States, wondering if more of their rights will be stripped away. If laws like this are being passed now there is no telling what other bans could be passed as well, which could impact the country tremendously.
Pinning Citizens Against Themselves [Madi]
Not only do these two newly introduced bills just ban abortion, but the government has created a way to pin citizens against themselves, displacing the blame off of the government itself. Senate Bill 8 and House Bill 480 allow for private citizens to sue anyone who ‘aids or abets’ in the attempt of abortion (Balmert, Cincinnati). This means that not only the mother herself, but also anyone who helps her, including the doctors performing the operation, can be charged with legal action. Citizens who are successful in a lawsuit can be awarded as much as $10,000, while anyone involved in an abortion would be forced to pay $10,000 per abortion. Although it is still illegal for a woman to get an abortion if conception was due to rape, incest, or abuse, those criminally involved in the pregnancy can still be forced to pay a fine as well. There is even a website for people to send anonymous tips to, about those who they may think are violating this new law (McCammon, NPR).
This all obviously places a huge target on doctors, nurses, and clinics performing abortion procedures and puts them at high risk of dealing with legal consequences. Clinics now must face the threat of high financial costs due to the ability of anti-abortionists being able to sue them. This could result in clinics shutting down, or doctors refusing to perform procedures, which we have already seen beginning to happen in Texas. 
As there become less clinics available, one could only imagine what this could lead women to do to their own bodies. Many women resort to performing unsafe abortions to themselves or travel to a state without these harsh laws, as they just can’t imagine being at a point in their lives where they could care for a child. However, what people tend to forget is that some women don’t have a choice. The new abortion ban poses even more of a threat to those living in lower socioeconomic areas, as they often lack access to resources that the middle class does not have to worry about. Without the ability to travel to another state, or receive adequate health care, one may simply be forced to either have the child without any financial stability or to harm herself in order to stop the pregnancy. Not to mention the burden that high legal costs would bring as a result from being sued against for an attempted abortion. To add, the majority of those living in low socioeconomic areas are often of ethnic minority groups, bringing up an issue of injustice that has corrupted this country’s past for many years.
New Bills Contribute to Systemic Racism [Madi]
“Throughout history, we have seen that patients of color, patients who live in rural areas and patients who have less economic means — they are the patients who are disproportionately affected by any barriers in health care,” said Kristina Tocce, a medical director at Planned Parenthood (Dautrich, CNN).
This country’s long history of providing women with unequal access to reproductive healthcare, including contraception use, has resulted in disparities between death rates for both the mother and the child. Think about it this way: those living in low socioeconomic areas struggle to afford a living, so they probably wouldn’t be too focused on spending the little money they have on secondary forms of contraceptives. Then add the healthcare systems failure to adequately support and provide for everyone equally, often failing those who need help the most. So, when new abortion laws are formed, it adds more difficulties for women, disproportionately affecting minorities who are already placed at a disadvantage. African American women are more likely to have unplanned pregnancies, while maternal and infant death rates have also been shown to be increasingly higher than those of white women (Blumenthal & Zephyrin, The Commonwealth Fund). With the ability for citizens to sue other citizens, personal biases are sure to slip in, and with the existing inequalities already implemented into the healthcare systems, the new abortion laws will only further deprive minorities from equal care.
Anti abortion laws have been traced back and rooted within white supremacy. While the government only cares about wealth, profit, and power, many women across the country are going to face terrible consequences because of these laws. Rather than trying to protect and save the lives of women and children, the government has become successful at doing the complete opposite, by putting those very lives in utter danger. According to the ACLU, “Today, a person is 14 times more likely to die by carrying a pregnancy to term than by having an abortion, and medical evidence has shown for decades that an abortion is as safe as a penicillin shot- and yet abortion remains heavily restricted in states across the country” (Goodwin, ACLU). This simple fact proves how a ban on abortion only makes women more susceptible to enduring far worse risks and issues. But, it is important to understand that minorities and those living in with low socioeconomic means are situated at an even more vulnerable place. If a woman couldn’t afford to go to another state to receive a safe abortion, how could one expect her to be able to financially support a child and give them the life they deserve. How could a mother who already deals with money issues, continue to work for a living and have enough money for childcare? Who are we to assume that a child would be better off in a world full of inequities and injustices? When reviewing the potential consequences from the implementation of Senate Bill 8 and House Bill 480, along with more from other states that are sure to come, the answer is simple: these laws only work to perpetuate the pre-existing unequal laws that have been systemically in place for many years.
Percent of abortions performed for out-of-state residents in 2018 (Dautrich, CNN).
Future Outlook [Lesly]
Along with Ohio, other states like Florida, which currently has a ban on abortions after six weeks, and Arkansas are also following in the footsteps of Texas. They have made their plans clear about creating a bill similar, to be proposed later this year in December or early next year in January (Durkee, Forbes). Because of the Texas ban being in effect it will make it possible for other states to pass similar bills as well. Some states have already begun creating new bills following the suit of Texas and may now start to think about the same extremities as Ohio’s House Bill 480. The bills from other states like Arkansas would be introduced in the next year, so we should be on the lookout for them. The Guttmacher Institute predicts for there to be at least 14 states that introduce a bill like the Senate 8 Bill Texas has put in place (Durkee, Forbes). Although some of these bills may not move forward to be put in place, this is still a fear for many women all across the country who may no longer have a choice to decide this for themselves. For there to be no choice at all for someone to receive an abortion, a choice that they determine for their body, takes away the freedom they deserve. The future of America could change rapidly with new bills being introduced, especially like in Texas and Ohio, which will put many women at risk, as it has already.
Final Thoughts
As Simone de Beauvoir describes the long history of women being constructed in contrast to men, we can see how abortion laws similarly place women’s bodies at service to men. While old, white, republican men have instituted these laws, defining themselves as the superior, One, they have in turn positioned all women in America as the inferior, Other. The One sees themselves as holding all the power and in defining themselves as such, the Other is seen as lesser value. In turn women must face the consequences of having no control over their own bodies, forced to endure the extreme body transformations and pain that comes with pregnancy.
Citations:
Balmert, Jessie. “Ohio GOP lawmakers propose abortion ban echoing Texas law being challenged at the Supreme Court”. Cincinnati.com, 2 Nov. 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2021/11/02/ohio-gop-lawmakers-introduce-abortion-ban-modeled-after-texas-law/6253611001/
Blumenthal, David & Zephyrin, Laurie. “Texas’s new abortion law will harm people of color, further entrench racists policies”. The Commonwealth Fund, 22 Sept. 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2021/texass-new-abortion-law-will-harm-people-color-further-entrench-racist-policies
Dautrich, Katherine, et. al. “Texas abortion ban is an early glimpse of what post-Roe America would look like for women”. CNN News, 22 Oct. 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/22/us/texas-abortion-ban-invs/index.html
Durkee, Alison. “Ohio bill copies Texas’ abortion ban- and goes further. Here’s which states could be next”. Forbes, 3 Nov. 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/11/03/ohio-bill-copies-texas-abortion-ban-and-goes-further-heres-which-states-could-be-next/?sh=7bcd171c5b84
Goodwin, Michele. “The racist history behind abortions and midwifery bans”. ACLU, 1 July 2020. Retrieved from: https://www.aclu.org/news/racial-justice/the-racist-history-of-abortion-and-midwifery-bans/
McCammon, Sarah. “What the Texas abortion bill does- and what it means for other states”. NPR, 1 Sept. 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/01/1033202132/texas-abortion-ban-what-happens-next