An Expert In Domestic Violence Explains Just How Bad The Texas Abortion Ban Really Is
Texas Women Become Third World Citizens Overnight - Rise in Domestic Violence Looms
Senate Bill 8, signed into law by the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, bans abortion at around 6 weeks when fetal heartbeat can be detected and there are no exceptions for rape or incest.
“Abortion access will be thrown into absolute chaos,” says Amanda Williams, Executive Director of the Lilith Fund, a plaintiff in the suit that challenged the law.
This makes women “property” in Texas, just as they were pre-1973 before Roe v. Wade was enacted and offered safe, private, affordable abortion options. Will this devastating law be duplicated?
Before this law, women in Texas could make their own decisions about pregnancy as women currently do in every other state. In the past, they could visit a doctor and have a private and secret abortion.
Until September 2nd they could ask friends and family to help with the cost, with the travel, and with the recovery; now their entire support system is gone.
Texas is the first state in decades to ban most abortions. Separation of church and state, the fundamental statute of the United States of America, collapsed under the Supreme Court’s majority of pro-lifers when The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against blocking this Texas law.
Opponents of the law argue that it encourages citizens to use vigilante justice to report anyone involved in abortion procedures after 6 weeks of pregnancy, even in a case of rape or incest.
Once a report is filed, women and any professional, friend, or family member who helped them obtain an abortion can be sued for up to $10,000 including the cost of attorney fees.
What this Texas abortion ban means for women in Texas and elsewhere
As Mask Wars erupt in violence in Texas, Florida and elsewhere, this new state-wide ban dooms Texas citizens to a second civil war about abortions.
This shocking law turns neighbor against neighbor and is reminiscent of how the Nazis filled their Concentration Camps by rewarding neighbors to report on each other.
This also allows frivolous lawsuits from anti-abortion vigilantes. At a time when America is desperate to get back to work, thousands of medical workers will lose their jobs in Texas.
As a specialist in preventing domestic violence for 22 years; this is what you Need to DO NOW if you have an Unwanted Pregnancy in Texas
1. Leave Texas if you think you MAY need an ABORTION — do not attempt to have an abortion in Texas.
2. Do not tell anyone that you are pregnant.
3. When you leave town to seek an abortion outside of Texas, your partner or “well-wishers” may block your departure so be silent and secretive.
4. You MUST hide your travel and your pregnancy from EVERYONE as a partner wishing for more children may become enraged and violent if your plan to abort is known.
5. Travel alone to another state as any friend who drives you or even accompanies you can be sued for helping you.
6. Be sure that you have a lock code on your phone if you reside in Texas and delete all text messages relating to your circumstances.
7. Emails always leave a footprint so avoid emailing about abortion if you live in Texas.
Why is the Texas abortion ban so shocking?
1. Texas is the only state where similar “heartbeat” bills have been allowed by the courts.
2. It encourages any private citizen in the US to bring a civil suit against an abortion provider or anyone who “aids or abets” the procedure.
3. The law catastrophically reduces abortion access throughout Texas and will force most legal abortion clinics to close.
4. This law will prevent 85% of Texas women from accessing abortion care, as most women aren’t aware they are pregnant as early as six weeks.
5. There will be a return to deaths and tragic injuries for women who are desperately seeking abortions.
6. The poor and women of color will suffer more than other segments of the population.
Domestic violence may increase due to arguments about the Texas abortion ban over:
1. Money: Spending money for birth control is often blocked as well as unexplained travel, therefore keep your own carefully hidden money.
2. Children: The number of children in a family is often disputed. Never argue; instead, hide your birth control pills where your partner will never find them and pay cash for the prescription which you get from a doctor unknown to your partner.
Other methods of birth control are too easily discovered, so this is an additional and urgent challenge for women in Texas.
3. Absence from home: The average trip to an abortion clinic in Texas used to be12 miles, it will now become 248 miles one-way, nearly 500 miles round-trip, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Know that anyone who lies for you is vulnerable to being named in a lawsuit.
4. Prepare in secret: When Texas barred most abortion procedures amid the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, the number of patients who traveled out of state for care jumped nearly 400%.
5. Abortion “Bounty Hunters” may surface and quickly multiply; be very careful.
Who is impacted by the Texas state law’s radical legal provision which is the first of its kind in the country? ALL women; physicians, nurses; abortion workers; domestic violence and rape crisis counselors who may counsel abortions for those in distress and any friend or family member who offers a car ride to or from an out-of-state clinic or who offers a loan or financial gift.
What Can you do to help?
1. Donate to the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations that fight laws that abuse women.
2. If you have female friends and family in Texas, reach out to them secretly and offer your home as a place to stay if the need should arise.
3. If you have women friends and family in Texas, offer them the financial resources if they need it.
Susan Allan is a certified mediator and communication expert who created The Marriage Forum, Inc. She offers a complimentary 1-hour telephone session that can be scheduled by email: susan@susanallan.org. YOU can learn to peacefully, safely and cooperatively find the help you need about this or any situation by contacting her today.