According
to the Austin American Statesman, “ abortions in Texas dropped 13% in the last
year as new abortion restrictions triggered the closure of nearly half the
state’s abortion clinics.” These
abortion restrictions, outlined in House Bill 2, banned abortion after 20 weeks,
required doctors to have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of the abortion
facility, and required abortion facilities to meet the same standards of
ambulatory hospital services.
Among all of the states in the
continental U.S., the state of Texas has by far the strictest laws in regards
to abortion procedures. This is a very sad reversal of women’s equal right to
healthcare services. The way I see
it, if abortions in Texas dropped 13% in the last year, then we also had a 13%
increase in unsafe abortions and unplanned-for deliveries.
Decreased access to services such
as Planned Parenthood is devastating to the female youth in Texas. Since HB 2 forced the closure of many
Texas facilities, Texas women have also lost access to birth control and S.T.D.
screenings in addition to abortion services. Due to the passage of this bill, which Republicans justify
by claiming that it makes abortion “safer”, it has become extremely difficult
for low-income female citizens of Texas to gain access to sexual health care
clinics.
It is extremely sad that in the
state of Texas, if someone was raped and didn’t realize they were pregnant
until after the 20-week mark, they would be forced to go on with the
pregnancy. This kind of situation would
definitely have devastating long-terms psychological effects on both the mother
and the child.
1 comment:
After reading a blog post from July 25 on The Blue Dot, I agree that the recent HB 2 will do more harm than good for the state of Texas. As stated in the article, the bill places strict requirements on many existing abortion and health care clinics (such as the providers having admitting privileges to hospitals and making the clinics ambulatory surgical centers), which ultimately will lead to many of their closures. Most of these clinics provide abortions as only a small part of their services, so their closure will inhibit many women- most of them low income- from accessing reproductive information, health screenings, and birth control services. If we want to decrease the number of abortions in Texas, women need access to these services in able to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I would like add to The Blue Dot's critique that improving the condition of sex education in Texas schools may lead to a decreased number of unplanned pregnancies and therefore decreased number of abortions.
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