“She was suicidal on the phone,” says Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder of Texas abortion clinic Whole Women’s Health, of a woman who was recently unable to secure an appointment for an abortion in or out of the state. For most women seeking abortion she says, calls to the clinic have turned into “grief support layered with travel logistics navigation.”
The Texas ban on abortion after six week has been in effect since September. This makes it impossible for most women to access reproductive care in Texas. Patients who are able to travel across states are finding it more difficult to get appointments as the clinics in Texas and surrounding states become overcrowded.
On Thursday, abortion providers made it clear during a press conference with the Center for Reproductive Rights: If the Supreme Court reverses their decision, all of this and more will be the norm in many areas of the country. Roe v. Wade—which they’re likely to do in the next year. The Texas law was also blocked by the court. Why then doesn’t the Democrat-controlled Congress vote for federal law to enshrine abortion rights? Congress exists to pass legislation—why allow nine justices, six of whom were nominated by Republican presidents, to determine reproductive rights?
On Monday, February 28, the Senate will vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act. This would make abortion rights a part of federal law, protecting abortion access and codifying the fact that, as the Act reads, “Abortion services are essential to health care,” and, “Reproductive Justice is a human right.” The WHPA already passed in the House of Representatives. The vote was 218 to 211 with every Republican voting in favor and one Democrat voting against. The Act would require sixty votes in the Senate, which is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats. It is therefore virtually impossible for it to be passed. Every Republican senator, as well as two Democrats—West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey—are projected to vote down the legislation.
With 50 senators and vice president Kamala Harir as tie-breakers, Democrats barely control the Senate. With the filibuster rule, Republicans can easily block the passage of laws like the Women’s Health Protection Act. This despite the fact Americans strongly support abortion. According to the Pew Research Center, 59% Americans believe that abortion should become legal in all or most cases by 2021. Gallup also found that 82% of those polled believed abortion should only be legal in certain cases.
Women in Texas and other states without abortion access live in a nightmare. Hagstrom Miller finally finagled an appointment for the distraught woman on the phone—in far-away Arkansas. One of her clinic workers also spoke to a woman who needed an abortive procedure to get cancer treatment. The woman was eight weeks pregnant and was forced to leave the state to obtain an abortion. And abortions for minors have dropped by 70 to 90 percent since the Texas law went into effect—teens are even less likely than adults to have the resources to leave the state. That means they’re more likely to be forced to carry a pregnancy, or to manage their own abortions. Experts warn that abortion bans can be especially harmful to women of color, low-income women, and teens.
Already, groups like Center for Reproductive Rights are planning how to respond to Roe being overturned. But experts warn that if we think we can donate and crowdfund and tweet our way out of this situation, we’re mistaken. “To live in a state where we’re expected to have private charities come in and be the safety net for the failures of our state government is impossible,” said Rosann Mariappuram, executive director of Jane’s Due Process, a group that helps Texas teens access safe abortion and birth control. “This is beyond unsustainable, and it has to be changed with strong federal and state action.”
Jenny Singer is a staff author for Glamour. You can follow her Follow us on Twitter.
Source: Glamour
