The most restrictive abortion law in the US has inflicted “devastating” consequences in Texas since it was introduced six months ago, according to healthcare providers and pro-choice groups.
Senate Bill 8 (SB 8) bars the procedure once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, typically at six weeks of pregnancy or earlier, with no exception for rape or incest. As most people are not aware they are pregnant this early on, the unprecedented law amounts to a near-total ban.
It also delegates enforcement to private citizens, in lieu of the state, encouraging anti-choice vigilantes to sue abortion providers as well as anyone who “aids or abets” care for damages of at least $10,000, creating a chilling effect among abortion supporters.
Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, which operates four abortion clinics in Texas, described the panic, fear and anguish of patients unable to obtain constitutionally protected healthcare in their home state. She said her clinic staff had transformed counseling sessions into trauma and grief support, coupled with travel logistics advice.
“For six months we have heard the cries and pleas of Texans who have had their healthcare freedoms stripped away,” Hagstrom Miller said in a recent press briefing. “In many cases, there is nothing we can do for them other than listen, hold their hands and dry their tears.”
Under SB 8, abortions in Texas have fallen by almost 50%. Texans have been forced to travel hundreds – or even thousands – of miles for abortion access, with an average distance that is 14 times greater than before, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
This is only if they can find the necessary resources including time off work, childcare, lodging, transportation and others necessary to cross state lines. Some Texans are being forced to carry pregnancies against their will, providers say. They stress the impact of SB 8 falls hardest on low-income people and black and brown communities.
“Senate Bill 8 has been absolutely devastating for Texas communities, especially for people who call on abortion funds for support,” says Amanda Williams, executive director of the Lilith Fund.
Abortion funds that offer financial assistance to low-income patients and people of color said they were now spending “six times more” on travel expenses under SB 8 in a video detailing the impact of the law.
Anna Rupani of Fund Texas Choice says the number of people leaving Texas for abortion care has risen fivefold among those they help. Similarly, Kamyon Conner of Texas Equal Access Fund reports 91% of those who call the non-profit are in need of out-of-state care.
“People in this state are being forced to travel for healthcare,” Conner said. “We need the support of everyone in the country right now.”
Planned Parenthood recently released new data showing a nearly 800% increase in Texas patients at their health centers in nearby states, including New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado and Missouri in the first four months of SB 8 compared with last year. Planned Parenthood clinics in Oklahoma alone saw a nearly 2,500% increase in patients from Texas.
“These numbers are staggering and just one part of the devastating picture on the ground in Texas and the surrounding states,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
“[T]he country’s most restrictive abortion ban has led to continued chaos and a sustained crisis for patients and providers in Texas and beyond. This reality is heartbreaking and a glimpse of what’s to come should the supreme court restrict the constitutional right to an abortion even further.”
Clinics in neighboring states have become overburdened with an influx of patients, causing a ripple effect across the US reproductive health network.
Kathaleen Pittman, clinic administrator at Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Louisiana, said in her 30 years as a provider she had “never been so afraid” for her patients, most of whom live at or below the poverty level. With a nearly 50% jump in Texas patients, the clinic is “overloaded” and cannot schedule appointments until one month out.
“Our staff is exhausted and the phone calls are nonstop,” says Pittman. “Women are crying because they can’t understand how a state can have so much control over their lives.”
Despite legal efforts from Texas abortion advocates, the US supreme court – now stacked with conservative anti-abortion justices – failed to halt the extreme measure on more than one occasion and has largely stripped providers of their power to challenge the law. In January, the conservative fifth circuit court of appeals asked the Texas supreme court to determine if narrow challenges against state medical licensing officials can proceed, and providers await that decision. However, they consider the move by the conservative fifth circuit an attempt to “further slow-walk the case” and allow SB 8 to remain in place indefinitely.
“The supreme court greenlit this law’s unprecedented vigilante scheme and essentially said that federal courts are powerless to stop it. There is no end in sight to this nightmare,” said Marc Hearron, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights and arguing attorney for the plaintiffs.
“What is happening in Texas should be a grave warning for the rest of the country. This is a preview of what will happen on a much larger scale if Roe falls.”
The US supreme court is poised to overturn or undermine the pivotal 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that guarantees the right to abortion care. The upcoming decision, in response to a 15-week Mississippi abortion ban, is expected in June. In addition to SB 8, Texas passed a “trigger law” that would automatically bar all abortion care if Roe falls.
The Women’s Health Protection Act, a measure that would codify Roe into federal law – and potentially help Texans – was blocked by Senate Republicans on Monday.
“This is a tragedy. Abortion providers alone cannot fix this,” Hagstrom Miller said of SB 8. “This should not be the reality of abortion care in the United States.”
