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Texans who want to access abortion at any stage of pregnancy will soon have to travel over state lines, look beyond the U.S.-Mexico border or operate outside of the law, while others will carry unwanted pregnancies to term.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade and will allow states to set their own laws regulating abortion access. Texas, along with 12 other states, has a trigger law that will automatically ban all abortions, with only narrow exceptions to save the life of the mother, 30 days after the ruling.
More than half of all states, primarily in the South and Midwest, are expected to ban or severely restrict abortion access in the coming weeks and months, leaving most Texans hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from the nearest clinic.
Texas has already gotten a window into what’s to come; the state has been operating under one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans since Sept. 1.
Data gleaned from the early months under Texas’ existing abortion restrictions, as well as from countries that have banned abortion, show that many, though not all, pregnant patients seeking abortions will find ways to terminate their pregnancies.
“It has always been the case that people find ways to end pregnancies when they need to do so, and we’re so fortunate now that the methods are safer than they’ve ever been in human history,” said Farah Diaz-Tello, senior counsel with reproductive legal advocacy group If/When/How. “Abortion is, in many ways, too big to fail.”
But Diaz-Tello and other advocates warn that inequality of abortion access will only be exacerbated by these wholesale bans. And notably, some Texas lawmakers have signaled a desire to push legislation that would make it illegal for people to travel out of state to get the procedure.
But Diaz-Tello and other advocates warn that inequality of abortion access will only be exacerbated by these wholesale bans. And notably, some Texas lawmakers have signaled a desire to push legislation that would make it illegal for people to travel out of state to get the procedure.
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