8/16/21 Texas Abortion Law: The First Domino Falls at the End of August

Last year, there were 54,000 abortions in Texas; in 2019, 56,000.

In a few weeks, that number will fall off a cliff when an astoundingly restrictive abortion ban kicks in. It makes abortion illegal once the fetus has a heartbeat, about six weeks into pregnancy, when women typically don't know they're pregnant.

“This law is senseless. It’s not in the best interest of the people of Texas,” says one abortion provider. “But it is the law, and if it passes, we have to comply.”

The law could be the first of a series of events that make abortion tougher for women to find.

Domino 1:

Abortion providers will all but shut down, at least at first, partly for lack of legal business, but also to avoid an endless stream of lawsuits.

The group Texas Right to Life has launched a website for whistleblowers who want to potentially help sue doctors, so there'll be no shortage. Ordinary citizens can sue abortion providers too. Lawyers for both sides expect many of the lawsuits to be frivolous.

The kicker: Under the new law, defendants cannot recover costs from a lawsuit even if they win. And once sued under the law, a doctor's medical licensing could be affected.

Domino 2:

One transportation service, based in North Texas, has helped women go to other states for abortion access, but it's shutting down. The National Abortion Federation is creating a special “concierge team” to assist women in Texas.

Still, the bucks to send women to other states just aren't there -- not yet. That means that women of lower income will have next to no options for getting out of state, even aside from rescheduling work and family responsibilities.

Domino 3:

If the law can be implemented successfully, abortion-law watchers expect similar laws to proliferate in the south and in midwestern states, where abortion access is already difficult.

The newly conservative Supreme Court will hear their first major abortion case in years this fall. The 6-week ban is moved far up from the 6-month time frame specified in Roe v. Wade.

If the Supreme Court upholds the Texas law, Roe will be overthrown.

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Six weeks into a pregnancy (about 4 weeks after implantation) is about when a home pregnancy test can first detect a pregnancy. That means it will be too late for a legal abortion by the time most women find out they're pregnant. Doesn’t this sound like an attempt to outlaw virtually all abortions in Texas?

If abortions to become essentially illegal in red states, but stay legal in blue states, what will that disparity do to the culture of the US? Won’t red states become poorer? Or would red states just have more illegal abortions and so more dead women?

What other differences would you anticipate?

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Texas-abortion-clinics-brace-for-near-shutdown-as-16382541.php?sid=5dc30632fc942d1f403e32c0&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=news_a&utm_campaign=HC_MorningReport

Art: https://openclipart.org/detail/285858/texas-state-flag-map