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How Texas Abortion Bill SB8 Can Harm Women’s Health

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The Texas abortion bill SB8, which passed on September 1, 2021, prohibits abortion after a fetus’ cardiac activity is detected. In practice, this means Texans have access to abortion only before they are six weeks pregnant, which in turn blocks women’s constitutional right to choose and prevents many from accessing crucial medical care.

According to a 2017 Maternal and Child Health Journal article that analyzed over 17,000 pregnancies over 23 years, on average, women become aware of their pregnancies at around 5.5 weeks gestation. Several maternal characteristics measured at conception or during pregnancy — including younger age, a never-married marital status, and lower poverty-income ratios, among others — were associated with pregnancy awareness at seven weeks or later. This is why most countries allow abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy; it’s a more realistic timeline for women to learn about their pregnancy, process it, and then make a decision.

What’s more, plenty of evidence shows that restrictive abortion laws lead to an increase in unsafe abortion practices. When restrictive abortion laws are in place, pregnant people pursue unsafe abortions, which increases their risk of maternal mortality. Approximately 22,800 women around the world die each year from unsafe abortions.

Forcing people to carry unwanted pregnancies also has severe consequences on pregnant people’s mental health, including experiencing higher levels of anxiety, lower levels of life satisfaction, and lower self-esteem relative to those who received an abortion. These effects are especially evident if a forced pregnancy results from rape or a toxic relationship. The associated stigma with young unmarried mothers can also cause isolation, which exacerbates the effects on one’s mental and physical health.

In addition to avoiding adverse health outcomes, abortion access can indirectly benefit young women’s health in that such access, when needed, can make it infinitely easier for people to continue their education and pursue job opportunities and financial stability. Evidence suggests that cutting off access to safe abortions will limit college-going opportunities, especially for low-income Americans and racial minorities, thus exacerbating existing racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in college education.

Human rights bodies have repeatedly condemned restrictive abortion laws as incompatible with human rights norms for a good reason. The right to abortion is grounded in several rights, including the right to life, liberty, privacy, equality, and nondiscrimination, and freedom from cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment. Comprehensive abortion care is also listed as an essential health service by the World Health Organization (WHO).

If we want to reduce unintended pregnancies, we should increase access and funding to birth control, sex education, and reproductive services instead of financing restrictive laws like this that take away women’s right to access life-saving health care.



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Dharmi Desai
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