Riley Carroll

“Pregnant women across the state are being put in danger as a direct cause of the abortion ban which may be the beginning of a new health crisis for Texas,” said the Paisano Editorial Board in Sept. 2023. One year later, this statement has proven to be a grave premonition of what was to come.

Last week, an article published by NBC highlighted recent staggering findings reported by the Gender Equity Policy Institute, a nonprofit research group, which concluded that Texas maternal mortality rates had increased by 56% from 2019 to 2022. This is in comparison to the 11% increase of the nationwide maternal mortality rate.

Faced with such horrific statistics, it can only be concluded that Texas’ comprehensive abortion ban, ironically named the “Human Life Protection Act,” has not protected very many lives at all.

The “Human Life Protection Act,” otherwise known as the Texas Trigger Law (HB 1280), went into effect in Aug. 2022, just 30 days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, according to Progress Texas’ Roevelution campaign page. This trigger activation was made by design when the bill was written and passed in May of 2021, intended to apply only after a federal Supreme Court decision would return abortion rights back to the discretion of each state.

In addition to outlawing any abortions except when a pregnancy poses an imminent threat of killing the mother, HB 1280 declared performing an abortion to be a felony offense. Now, healthcare providers who perform abortions are committing a felony offense, the consequences of which can include losing one’s medical license, fines of at least $100,000 and life in prison.

As a direct result, access to abortion and reproductive healthcare has quickly dwindled down to nearly nothing. According to NPR, healthcare providers, now fearful of putting themselves at risk of legal action, have even turned away pregnant women experiencing medical emergencies from ERs. The picture of why maternal mortality rates in Texas have skyrocketed becomes clearer and clearer as reproductive healthcare disappears piece by piece.

Yet, as incredulous and terrifying as it is that women’s rights to their own bodies, to their healthcare and to their lives have once again been stripped away and dismantled, this is not the end of the fight for those rights.

The upcoming presidential election is certainly a massive piece of this puzzle, but local elections — which just so happen to be taking place concurrently on Nov. 5 — are equally as important when abortion rights have been returned to the discretion of each state. On that day, Texas will also be holding a general election for both the State Senate and the State House of Representatives, giving voters the opportunity to cast their votes for local representatives alongside their vote for president. Information about the individual candidates running in each district can be found on the Texas Legislature page of Ballotpedia.org so voters can approach the polls feeling prepared and informed on Election Day.

As that day draws ever nearer, one critical, unassailable question remains to be answered: When the time comes to stand up for reproductive healthcare, to indelibly mark it in ink as a fundamental human right, who will be chosen to represent the innumerable maternal voices imploring to be heard?

For anyone in need of help and/or information relating to organizations that aim to provide financial, legal and travel assistance to support individuals in need of abortion health services, along with additional educational resources on reproductive healthcare in Texas, please visit Progress Texas’ Roevelution campaign page at https://progresstexas.org/roevolution-resource-guide.