New Texas Abortion Law

As of November 14 your rights as a woman have now changed. The debate over the State Bill 5 and House Bill 2 , have now come to a final decision on women's reproductive choices. This debate started last summer, over nearly a months span, thousand of women went to the capital to protest. While this was being debated, the first special session called by Gov. Rick Perry had hundreds of people traveling to Austin to testify against the bill. What was finally the deciding factor in SB 5 from being passed was the people's filibuster. The bill was literally shouted down by protesters who yelled so loudly that a vote couldn't be taken place for the legislation to pass before the midnight deadline.

Immediately Gov. Rick Perry called for a second special session making it clear that, "Texans value life and want to protect women and the unborn" which makes total sense, (as I say in a sarcastic tone) from his leading examples of overseeing the execution of hundreds and denying funds from the national Medicaid women's health program to low income women throughout the state of Texas. As protesters were bused in from across the nation security became more tightly controlled and many people reported having their tampons and pads confiscated.

On October 31, a three-judge appeals court panel overturned an injunction that blocked implementation of a provision of the state's new anti-abortion law that requires abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of their clinic. The restriction is among several in the sweeping legislative assault on access to safe legal abortions in the state of Texas. Other provisions include a 20 week ban on abortion hiding restrictions on medication abortions, and requiring abortion clinics to be certified as ambulatory surgical centers.

Estimates show that this will leave only five clinics in the entire state open if the surgical ambulatory requirement provision of the legislation goes into effect on schedule in September 2014. The state of Texas has 26.1 million residents and spans over 268,820 mi.² Since the provision went into effect, there are now only six counties out of the 254 to have abortion clinics. When the legislation's arguments are broken down, it becomes apparent that nothing in the anti abortion's laws provisions actually improve health care for pregnant women.

In 2011 the women's healthcare budget was cut from $111 million down to $37.9 million, This also barred any state dollars from reaching Planned Parenthood, who served half of all women who received care through the state women's health program in 2010. Before 2011 clinics offered annual exam to uninsured women for a subsidized rate of $10-$25 today those rates are between $60 and $200. The same goes for birth control prices, with this help of state dollars clinics used to prescribe a month of birth control pills at $12 a pack now the price tag is at an unsubsidized $50.

The stereotype on Texas has now established laws that violate women's fundamental reproductive rights including the right to life and health, nondiscrimination and equality.