After an extreme new abortion ban failed to be blocked by the conservative-packed Supreme Court, it went into effect in the state of Texas on Wednesday. Currently, abortions are banned once cardiac activity is detected, which occurs at around six weeks’ gestation, well before most women know they are pregnant. Women without the financial resources to travel to another state will be forced to carry pregnancies caused by rape or incest and doctors will be sued even for referring a pregnant patient to a physician for an abortion.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, long an advocate for women’s reproductive rights, vowed on Wednesday to fight the bill and protect the women of Texas. Whether it be through expanding the Supreme Court or through legislation is unclear.
According to NPR:
‘The Texas law, passed in May, bans all abortions in the state after about six weeks of pregnancy — well before many women even know they are pregnant. The policy conflicts with the Supreme Court’s precedents, which prohibit states from banning abortion prior to fetal viability, usually between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy.’
The bill, one of the most restrictive to ever be passed since the original passage of Roe v. Wade, is forcing women who do not want to be pregnant to wait while their elected leaders figure out how to help them.
Actually, only poor women are waiting. Those with resources will simply travel out of state.
Twitter had a lot of thoughts on the issue, and on Speaker Pelosi’s tweet. Read some of their comments below:
