4 Reasons Why Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Supporters Should Be Anti-Texas Heartbeat Bill

When it comes to polarizing topics, abortion takes the cake.

 “When does life begin?” is a surprisingly complicated question to answer. Is it at inception? When the heart starts beating (6 weeks)? When the fetus could survive outside the womb (usually 24 weeks, the standard set by Roe v. Wade)? Birth? Your answer will depend on your personal religious beliefs, opinions, and ethics.

I’m not here to address the pro-life/pro-choice debate (the terminology I’ll be using). Each side has complex nuances and buckets full of research that deserve a separate deep dive.

I’m here to argue that regardless of what your stance is on abortion, the Texas “Heartbeat Bill” is an infringement on freedom and hurts both sides of the debate.

First things first, let’s look at what the bill says:

It is illegal to have an abortion after cardiac activity is detected. Which is usually 6 weeks. Citizens are allowed to sue anyone who assists with an abortion after the 6 week mark. Uber drivers, relatives providing financial support, the abortion providers themselves, etc. can all be brought to court. The whistleblower could receive a $10,000 reward if the accused is successfully sued. Note that the abortion patients themselves can not be sued.

Texas Right to Life has set up a website where people can anonymously report someone who is violating this law. No exception is made for rape or incest. Some narrow exceptions are made for health complications that could endanger the woman’s life.

Both sides of the aisle should be outraged.

The bill infringes on personal freedom and it will put women and their fetuses in dangerous circumstances. Pro-choicers will need to travel out of state or resort to potentially dangerous actions to have control over their own bodies. Pro-lifers have just punted the ball out of their own court, wiping away their chance to help struggling women in their community.

The bounty reward has the potential to be abused as tool for hurt, revenge, and easy money by scammers, angry partners/friends/family, or any Texas resident who needs cash. Everyone loses in the end. Well, maybe not the people who get a fat check…. 

4 Reasons Why Pro-Choice AND Pro-Life Supports Should Oppose This Bill

1. American history has shown that just because something is illegal, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. People will find a way around the law, and the detour might not be safe.

Outlawing drugs has led to addiction and death as chemical synthetics are created and products are cut to make an extra buck. Outlawing prostitution has led to human trafficking, forced drug addiction, sexual assault, and physical abuse. Prohibition was an abysmal failure.

Women will still find a way to get an abortion. They will drive out of state, order pills online that have the potential to be dangerous, or, even worse, attempt one themselves. The consequences of unsafe abortions across the globe are devastating. Each year, 7,000,000 women and girls are injured or disabled due to unsafe abortions and with 22,000 annual deaths. Most of these occur in developing nations with strict bans on abortion and poor health care systems. The developing fetus is lost, the mother’s life is in jeopardy, and nobody wins.

2. Women no longer have a safe space to seek out the resources and support they need to make an informed decision.

Abortion clinics provide women with valuable information on what the process entails along with available alternatives. Not to mention, they serve as the perfect locations for the pro-life community to meet women where they are to provide emotional, financial, and community support to carry out a pregnancy if she really wants to. This line of communication has been severed.

3. The Texas law encourages snap, uninformed decisions.

A race against a six week deadline doesn’t give a woman time to think through her decision and fully explore her options. Not to mention, most women don’t even know they are pregnant by 6 weeks. Missed the deadline? The time and cost of traveling out of state further incentivizes snap decisions because repeat trips won’t always be possible.

4. The financial reward sets a dangerous precedent and opens the door to unsettling unintended consequences.

 With a potential reward of $10,000 on the line and the guarantee of someone facing litigation based on an anonymous tip, I predict some nasty results. Scammers will have a total heyday, and what better form of payback or revenge than sending someone to court? The heart wrenching racism, corruption, and power abuse among trained law enforcements has been/is being exposed. If police behave in this manner, it’s irresponsible to allow citizens to play cop when the consequences are so severe.

This maelstrom over the specific act of abortion itself is unproductive; we are simply picking the low hanging fruit. Instead, the conversation needs to be about why women are having abortions and how to help them avoid the difficult decision altogether.

First things fist, let’s look at the demographics of who is getting abortions: Young, low income women who already have children; see breakdown in the infographic below. This trend is confirmed by CDC data.

Part 1: The secret to no abortions? No unplanned pregnancies!

But how Katie?!

Mandatory Sex Education for Middle and High Schoolers

Saying that sex ed will lead to teenagers having sex is like saying that learning about the Roman Empire will make students violent. Teaching middle and high schoolers about HIV, STIs, contraception, consent, and the male and female reproductive organs should be a no brainer. But alas, the American education system falls short.

39 states have mandated sex and/or HIV education requirements. Of those states, 28 require that abstinence must be stressed and 20 require information on contraception. 35 states require information about healthy relationships, 38 states require education on how to prevent sexual violence, and 5 states require that only negative information can be provided on homosexuality.  Click HERE for a wonderful state by  state break down and more information.

Giving teenagers an arsenal of knowledge about sex and the human body can help prevent unplanned pregnancies, which eliminates the need for abortion.

Easy access to affordable male and female birth control

A 2012 study at  Washington University found that providing free birth control to women cuts abortion rates by 62-78% compared to the national average. The Guttmacher Institute  found a similar trend. From 2008 to 2011, the use of contraception boomed, and the number of unplanned pregnancies and abortions declined. But wait! Correlation isn’t causation! The researchers make a compelling case that we can attribute the drop in abortion rates to contraception. In case you aren’t convinced, The Brookings Institute further confirms the connection between lower abortion rates and higher use/access to contraception.

Some people, namely Catholics, believe contraception is a mortal sin. Other don’t, and can argue that it’s hardly moral to raise a child that can’t be provided for. The freedom of religion is a pillar of the United States, and with that comes the right to choose contraception if you wish.

Part 2: Ease the Financial Strains of Having a Child

Hospital fees, diapers, education, hobbies, food, clothes, obligatory family vacations to the beach all make having a child extremely expensive. 75% of abortions in 2016 were among low-income women. Perhaps a woman would choose to cary out a pregnancy is she had more financial support.

A reasonable place to start is affordable childcare. Which the Biden administration is working towards. This not only relieves financial stresses, but it means a woman doesn’t need to compromise her career to have a child.

Childcare in the United States is incredibly expensive. According to THIS data from the World Population Review, the average cost of childcare ranges from $5,436/year in Mississippi to $20,913/year in Massachusetts; the national average coming to $1,230/month And that’s just base quality. If you want high quality childcare, expect to pay nearly double that. The True Cost of High-Quality Child Care Across the United States provides a fascinating state by state breakdown with a more in-depth look into the true cost of childcare.

Part 3: Shared Responsibility Between Men and Women

100% of pregnancies require male sperm. Yet, systemic standards, expectations, and policies still largely put the burden of pregnancy, childbirth, and child raising on the woman.

Male birth control should be just as important as female birth control. Paternity leave standards under Federal law only allows men 12 weeks, unpaid leave; new fathers should get just as much paid time off as women. It isn’t right to praise a working man for financially supporting his partner and child while a woman is shamed for “leaving the child home with dad.“

Popular culture has repeatedly depicted fathers as inept goofs who cause ruckus with an endearing shoulder shrug as the mother steps in to take control. Society is shifting and parenting roles are becoming more equal. But this gender stereotype still perseveres and it contributes to the unequal expectations and pressure of having a child.

Final Thoughts….

The unintended consequences that will arise from the Texas Heartbeat Bill should cause both pro-choice and pro-life supporters to worry. It encourages a snap decision to have an abortion that might not be informed or safe, and the potential consequences of the whistleblower reward are flat out scary.

No woman wants to stare down at a positive pregnancy test if she does not/cannot raise a child. And she certainly doesn’t want to be in a position where she needs to get an abortion. The use of resources and time that will be spent in court and fighting/supporting this law should be used to tackle the underlying issues: preventing unplanned pregnancies, affordable childcare, and gender equality when it comes to parenting.

At the end of the day, the goal is to have a happy, healthy,  and prosperous society. The Texas Heartbeat Act inhibits this mission.