On Sept. 1, The Texas Legislature passed the Heartbeat Bill which restricts women from having an abortion in Texas once a fetal heartbeat is detected by ultrasound. A fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into the pregnancy. The law makes no exceptions: not even for women impregnated by rape or incest. This makes it the most restrictive abortion law in the nation.

 UTSA has a multitude of student organizations representing different political perspectives all across the spectrum. Texas Rising and Students for Life at UTSA were both interviewed and asked how the organizations as a whole felt about the Heartbeat Bill. 

Due to differing beliefs, Texas Rising opposed the bill, while Students for Life strongly agreed with the new regulations. 

Texas Rising is a progressive organization at UTSA. Their main objective is to spread awareness to young people about recent issues regarding inequality and social justice taking place around the world. The organization strongly disagreed with the passing of the bill.

Christopher Garana, one of the students for the Texas Rising chapter on campus, communicated that Texas Rising’s stance on the bill was pro-choice, and felt as if the government was egregiously overreaching its power by limiting a woman’s ability to make a decision regarding her body. 

“It’s not the government’s position to tell women what to do with their bodies, and it’s not the government’s position to get involved in that personal issue,” Garana said.

The main objective for the Students for Life at UTSA is to encourage women to reject the traditional stigma of a woman’s life being ruined after pregnancy. They emphasize women’s ability to continue their life ambitions. Therefore, the Students for Life organization wanted to support the rights for all lives no matter the age or development stage. 

Galaxy Acton, the president of Students for Life, expressed her strong support for the passage of the Heartbeat Bill. 

“We agree with the heartbeat bill and we are very happy the bill came into place, and it’s a step in the right direction,” Acton said. 

Texas Rising agrees with the exceptions regarding the bill, but members are primarily worried about the consequences stemming from limited accessibility of abortion options. For instance, if women are deprived of the choice to have a safe abortion, that will force them to take matters into their own hands: opening a sequence of consequences affecting the women and their families. 

”I thought it was odd that medical exceptions were the only exceptions to the bill,” Garana said.

The Students for Life organization agrees with the medical emergency exception but communicates a different perspective; their ideology is to let the fetus pass naturally by a process of miscarriage. 

Texas Rising believes this abortion bill not only limits women’s rights, but directly violates a human’s right to bodily autonomy.

“The government wants to protect a fetus in person, but the second [they are] born they don’t care, and that shows where their priorities are,” Garana said.

Students for Life strongly agree with the Heartbeat Bill’s passing; they believe that the unborn have a voice and are valuable. The organization understands that people with opposing views can become frustrated with this ideology, but they want to make it known that if a human being has a heartbeat, it deserves human rights.

“We think it will save a lot of babies … our organization wants to connect people to the resources to show them, especially college students, that you don’t have to give up your dreams because you had a baby,” Acton said.