The Texas Abortion Law: A Signal of War on Women’s Rights and Bodies Essay

Introduction

Abortion has always been a controversial subject for Americans. This issue clashes with the dominant faith of many U.S. households, which is why some of those in power make continuous attempts to limit or completely take away a woman’s right to end pregnancy. After all, it is evident that people are extremely passionate about their beliefs, promoting them to fight for what they believe is right with much passion and dedication. Thus, the actions of Texas officials signing by into action Senate Bill 8, known simply as the Texas Abortion Law, are understandable and them smiling for a photo while doing so could even be regarded as admirable if not for the fact that the law is an assault on women’s reproductive rights.

In the month of November, justices of the Supreme Court demonstrated skepticism regarding Senate Bill 8. According to numerous reports, they scrutinized the structure of the law itself, which created a sort of “bounty system” for those willing to sue others for assisting with abortion after fetal heartbeat was detected (Gonchar, 2021; Moore & Chamberlain, 2021). With the Supreme Court signaling such skepticism and hinting at allowing abortion providers and activists to challenge the law, the interest in the constitutionality and ethical adequacy of Senate Bill 8 is rightfully justified. The purpose of this paper is to examine the structure and implications of the Texas Abortion Law in order to demonstrate its flaws. Senate Bill 8 is an unconstitutional law, which attempts to manipulate the loopholes in the United States’ legislation to restrict women’s reproductive rights, while disregarding their actual biology.

Background

In order to move further into the discussion of the primary issues surrounding the Texas Abortion Law, it is imperative to delve deeper into what Senate Bill 8 actually is and how it functions. As of September 1, 2021, abortion at a point when the heartbeat of a fetus can be detected, which is roughly 6 weeks, is considered illegal (Cohen et al., 2021). This is the direct result of the enactment of the Texas Heartbeat Act, or simply Senate Bill 8. The Act prohibits abortion once the heartbeat can be detected with no exceptions for victims of rape, domestic abuse, or incest (Cohen et al., 2021). The only exception, which would allow a woman to get an abortion past the point of detectable heartbeat is a medical emergency. There is added controversy surrounding the status of the law, although there is common ground in admitting that it provides the authorities with the ability to ban abortion de facto, without any of the risks of the de jure. The Texas Abortion Law took effect only after the Supreme Court decided not to enjoin it. September 1 has truly become a point in history of women’s rights, abortion legislation, and reproductive health as, prior to this day, abortions had been allowed after 6 weeks: up to 20 weeks, in fact (Cohen et al., 2021). The enactment of the Bill and the fact that the law actually went into effect only followed an existing trend in strict abortion legislature seen in other conservative states.

Texas Abortion Law: Anti-Privacy and Pro-Secrecy

Although the entirety of the Texas Abortion Law is a subject of much curiosity, the most interesting part about it is arguably the conditions of its enforcement. The main mechanism the law uses to enforce the new restrictions is “deputizing ordinary people to sue those involved in performing abortions and giving them a financial incentive to do so” (Gonchar, 2021, para. 6). Speaking in the terms of the Old West, a bounty is now offered to each private citizen willing to become some sort of vigilante and reveal incriminating information about those involved in performing an abortion after the point, at which the heartbeat can be detected. If such an attempt at suing someone for assisting in an illegal abortion is successful, the plaintiff gets $10,000 in cash as a reward (Lindvall, 2021). If not, they do not even have to pay the legal fees of the defendant. As a result, women who cannot afford to get an abortion out of state are exceptionally vulnerable as are those involved in the procedure. Medics, nurses, anaesthesiologists, insurance providers, and even taxi drivers who give a ride to a woman to an abortion clinic past the 6-week point face the liability to suits.

As a consequence of such enforcement procedures, a woman’s right to privacy is stripped away from her. By trying to manipulate the loopholes of the existing legislature and the Supreme Court precedent of 1973, Texas officials have challenged, if not eliminated, a woman’s right to privacy. The same privacy, which is regarded so highly and cited as the foundation of America as a nation by the same conservative officials who have been Senate Bill 8’s passionate proponents. There has not yet been a case to demonstrate the exact procedure of someone suing another for assisting with an illegal abortion as defined by the Texas Heartbeat Act. However, it is rational to assume that in order to succeed in their complaint, a plaintiff must prove that an individual or an organization they are suing knowingly helped with an abortion of a fetus that had a detectable heartbeat.

This clearly suggests that the person bringing the claim has to obtain evidence of the woman being pregnant (private information) and roughly 6 weeks passing after her last period (extremely sensitive private information). As a result, although plaintiffs do not directly sue pregnant women themselves and make them pay out $10,000, this does not mean that they do not receive punishment. The bounty system encourages citizens, particularly a woman’s close friends or relatives, to turn her in and share the most intimate and vulnerable parts of her life for an incentive. Women’s privacy is in danger as those living in Texas and outside its borders are offered a hefty reward for essentially spying on and then betraying women in need of an abortion.

Another aspect of the Law’s harmful effect on women’s privacy is secrecy, while privacy and secrecy may be regarded as similar terms, it is important to make a distinction in order to make an argument in this particular instance. Privacy is an inherently empowering term, while secrecy is more of a compulsory one since women have to be constantly aware of their relationships and experiences with each person in fear of being exposed and their reputation shattered. It is evident that the Texas Abortion Law encourages women to take on the burden of keeping their pregnancy a secret for as long as they can, which can be a source of additional mental and emotional stress.

Another element to the secrecy reinforced by the Texas Abortion Law is the fact that women themselves cannot actually be sued. The proponents of the Bill argue that this decision is intentional since the officials do not want to punish women themselves but only those assisting them in getting an illegal abortion. However, while it is true that there is intent behind the decision to formally exclude women from the punishment equation, it may lie in not wanting to see women in courtrooms, have visible evidence of how upset or enraged they are. After all, no one wants to see the consequences of their actions imprinted in the lives of a neighbor, a sister, or a teacher. No one wants to admit that abortions are common to the point of the town’s beloved mail woman deciding on one. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (2020) report that in the period between 2009 and 2018, “a total of 614,820 abortions were reported, the abortion rate was 11.3 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years, and the abortion ratio was 189 abortions per 1,000 live births” (para. 1). If Texas authorities really cared about not only keeping women out of court but protecting their privacy as well, they would not enable fellow citizens to drag women into the public eye, which would inevitably make them a subject of harassment.

Texas Abortion Law: Unconstitutionality

Some might argue that the Texas Abortion Law is entirely lawful and has no issues in regards to its jurisdiction. They might cite the Supreme Court’s decision to decline to enjoin the Texas Heartbeat Act as confirmation of the law’s constitutionality. However, there are two important things that make the Texas Abortion Ban unconstitutional. Firstly, it is clearly a scheme to nullify women’s constitutional rights granted under the long-standing Supreme Court precedent of Roe v. Wade. Senate Bill 8 overrides a landmark Supreme Court decision of 1973. Roe v. Wade is a case that has established it legal to seek pre-viability abortion. Alyssa Endres, a columnist at the Huntington News, notes that, in the case of the Texas Abortion Ban, “Texas law is superseding federal law, which is in direct opposition to the Supremacy Clause in Article VI of the Constitution, ultimately rendering the anti-abortion law unconstitutional in itself” (para. 4). Furthermore, Senate Bill 8 violates the Fourteenth Amendment by infringing upon the autonomy of women in the U.S. The right to personal autonomy is protected by the first 13 amendments. With the Texas Abortion Law in action, women in Texas no longer have the autonomy to their own bodies, which is a basic human right.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is apparent that the Texas Abortion Law is flawed and manipulative as the main goals of its proponents have been to do what they deem is “best” for Texas by finding loopholes in the existing legislature aimed at protecting women’s reproductive rights. The bounty system, which is chosen to ensure the law’s enforcement, clearly infringes upon women’s right to privacy. It encourages fellow citizens and those closest to women finding themselves in a vulnerable position of having an unwanted pregnancy to make the matters of their private life the subject of public scrutiny. Furthermore, the law also encourages women to commit to an existence of secrecy as anyone they might share their sensitive information with might be a potential danger. The Texas Abortion Ban is unconstitutional as it directly infringes upon the right to personal autonomy each American citizen should have, as underlined in the U.S. Constitution. Apart from that, it overrides an existing Supreme Court precedent. Overall, the controversy surrounding Texas Abortion Law is clearly justified as this law is not only unconstitutional but discriminatory and manipulative.

References

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. (2020). CDCs abortion surveillance system FAQs. CDC. Web.

Cohen, I. G, Adashi, E. Y, & Gostin, L. O. (2021). The Supreme Court, the Texas Abortion Law (SB8), and the beginning of the end of Roe v Wade? JAMA, 326(15), 1473–1474. Web.

Endres, A. (2021). Column: Texas’ new abortion law is unconstitutional.The Huntington News. Web.

Gonchar, M.. (2021). Lesson of the day: ‘Answers to questions about the Texas Abortion Law.’The New York Times. Web.

Lindvall, A. J. (2021). Texas, abortion, and state action. SMU Law Review, 74(139). Web.

Moore, M., & Chamberlain, S. (2021). Supreme Court justices scrutinize Texas heartbeat law banning most abortions.New York Post. Web.