Affects on being Denied an Abortion
Texas has some of the strictest abortions laws and restrictions, as you might know from my previous blogs you cannot get an abortion after fetal cardiac activity has been recorded. If you do want an abortion and cardiac activity has been recorded, you have to go to a state that will do an abortion when such activity is recorded.
Economic Instability
In an article from NBC news about abortions which struck me dearly. Dories Dixon, director of patient access at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said the following to an interviewing team:
“There are no babysitting services for people to send their children to while they go out of state, and there’s no guarantee that they won’t lose their jobs because they would be gone for two or three days. The issue is a lot bigger than even just finding resources for them to go elsewhere.”
Just a little context before I give in on my thoughts, the mother that said this is a single mom, has two kids, and just started a new job. The more I thought of this the more it got me thinking of why it is a big deal. Women that cannot get an abortion because of cardiac activity, must leave the state for a total of three days (due to long processing time), risk and hope that their job won’t be at risk, if they have kids the parent must find a babysitter for the three days of absence.
It is a statistic fact that one in two women that obtain an abortion is below the federal poverty level. Professor Diana Green Foster said, “when someone already struggling financially is denied care, it puts them in an even more difficult economic situation.” I couldn’t imagine being a single mother with two kids and now being pregnant trying to get an abortion and getting denied access to their very basic right to health care. This is a woman who not only lives in this state, but who works, pay’s taxes, votes, prays and is raising the future leaders of this state and country; and is being denied access to healthcare.
Mental Health
Not only being denied of an abortion will it affect an individual financially, but it will significantly increase their mental health issues like “anxiety, depression and low self-esteem in the months after abortion denial and may cause life-threatening physical health outcomes that last years” says the NBC reporting team.
Last but not least, being denied an abortion can increase domestic violence as home. Domestic violence is common among people trying to get an abortion, statistics say that “between 6 percent and 22 percent reporting recent violence from an intimate partner”. This statistic will likely mean that the women that was denied an abortion will likely stay in contact with a violent partner and they will likely raise that child alone, bringing it back to economic instability.
Citation:
Atkins, C. (2021, September 13). ‘lifelong consequences’: What happens to people who can’t get abortions. NBCNews.com. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/lifelong-consequences-what-happens-people-who-can-t-get-abortions-n1278838.
