by the IMC Feminist Activist Team
Residents of Texas who need access to abortion must now leave their home state to access care. Texans are essentially living as if it were 1972, before Roe vs. Wade. Anyone who seeks abortion care — and those who help them — can be severely penalized.
The United States Supreme Court has heard arguments in the case of Whole Women’s Health v. Dobbs and will rule on the case soon. Many people who follow the Supreme Court expect the Trump-appointed justices to overturn Roe.
There are now 12 states with Republican legislative majorities that have passed “trigger laws” that would go into effect immediately if Roe is overturned. More states have similar bills at the ready. The only way to undo these restrictions is for Congress to pass a federal law that guarantees the right to access abortion and gives pregnant people access to care in any state. Our constitutional rights should not be denied based on our zip code.
The Women’s Health Protection Act (“WHPA”) would allow access to abortion in every state. The House passed the WHPA in September 2021, but the bill failed in the Senate. Our country continues to turn back the hands of time on abortion access for many reasons:
- People are impacted by generations of stigma and silence
- People don’t know how to stop the flood of new laws that force pregnancy regardless of the circumstances
- We have a history of treating women as less important and less valuable than men — to the point where preserving a grown woman’s life and integrity is less important than saving a fetus
- We do not have true separation of church and state in this country. Some religions directly or indirectly diminish women, bully people into silence on abortion, and teach that life begins at conception.
Because we now can’t trust the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutional right to abortion, we need a national a law that allows pregnant people to:
- End a pregnancy safely and affordably
- Avoid being harassed or bullied by a sexual partner or rapist
- Control their own bodies
Our best strategy is to break the stigma around abortion by having a conversation, or posting about it on social media. We must remind people that we’re thinking about victims in Texas and not ignoring their plight. Remember: We are not alone. There are many of us who think the Texas law is wrong and that it is unacceptable to leave people in Texas in such dire straights.
