Removed to reinstated
Wednesday, October 6th Federal judge orders Texas to suspend new law banning most abortions; it was good news for everyone who has been fighting for reproductive autonomy. The lawsuit was brought by the Biden administration, in it said that the restrictions were going against the U.S. constitution.
Friday, October 8th most abortions in Texas are banned again after court ruling. Late Friday Houston Texas reinstates virtually all procedures of the restrictive abortion laws that was banned by a lower court two days earlier in the case brought by the Biden Administration.
The law that has been in debate is very complex as it is very broad and unclear to many people as we all have different opinions. The law, which bans abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected (at about six weeks of pregnancy) is different to everyone. This law causes many controversies but ultimately we must all remember that the women is giving birth and it is her body and no one else’s. Why does it have to be a group of white men making the decision for women?
This question was explained more in details during the Biden Administration lawsuit. On page 113 he wrote that because of the law, “women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their own lives in ways that are protected by the constitutions.” This sentence was well said as it was powerful and had a lot of truth in it. Women have suffered in the ways of:
- Gender-based violence
- Sexual violence
- Sexual harassment
- Workplace discrimination
And it feels like nothing has happened to reduce any of those, now adding the abortion laws. There is no reason why women shouldn’t be able to control their bodies.
The abortion law that set-in place at the start of September, it stopped many abortions in Texas. Many abortion providers were scared to have any potential liability because of the law, which meant that private citizens could sue anyone who performed an abortion as it was unlawful.
It is also important to keep in mind that two of the judges on the panel joined during a republican presidential administration. Judge Haynes was appointed by previous President George W. Bush, and Judge Ho by previous President Donald J. Trump. This is influential to the decision making process due to the extreme bias that republicans tend to hold with this issue.
In an article that I read it was mentioned that Kimberlyn Schwartz, a spokeswoman for Texas Right to Life, said the following: “We are confident Texas will continue to defeat these attacks on our lifesaving efforts.” I was intrigued about who she was, and it turned out that she was one of the participants of the ProLifeWhistleblower.com group. This was a group that created a website when the Texas law restricting abortions went into effect. It was an antiabortion organization to out people involved in unlawful procedures by collection anonymous tips online. Despite all the discrimination towards women Kimberlyn Schwartz is still willing to go against what women have been fighting for.
Citation:
Goodman, J. D. (2021, October 9). Most abortions in Texas are banned again after court ruling. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/08/us/texas-abortion-ban.html.
