On September 1, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abort signed a law that would ban Texans from having an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. He said, “Our creator endowed us with the right to life, and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion. In Texas, we work to save those lives.”
The six-week limit is before some women are even aware they are pregnant. The law also allows private citizens to sue doctors who provide abortions to women, and women who get an abortion. Despite that it is a constitutional right for women to have an abortion, the Supreme Court refused to block the abortion law; the vote was a 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the liberals.
People for abortion have promised to challenge the new law, they have considered this law one of the most extreme nationwide since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. The Roe v. Wade decision is a 1973 law that the Supreme Court agreed on to protect the rights of a pregnant woman to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.
The President said the Texas abortion law is “[A]lmost un-American.” He specifically pointed out the fact that private citizens get to sue any doctor who helps a woman get an abortion. He also said that “[T]he most pernicious thing about the Texas law, it sort of creates a vigilante system.”
After the Supreme Court’s decision on the law, he said it was an “[U]nprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade, which has been the law of the land for almost fifty years.”
Young people have used social media to also protest against this law, by sharing short videos and guides on how to flood the Texas Right to Life website with misinformation, memes, and pranks.
I talked to some of my peers at school about what they have heard about the new Texas law, and this is what they had to say:
“I heard that private citizens can sue people who get an abortion and the doctors who give the abortion.”
“I’ve heard if you get an abortion after the six weeks limit, the father of the child can sue the mother
“I’ve heard a lot of people are angry about it and I know that it is a very controversial subject so a large sum of people will be mad either way. I don’t think many other states will do the same just because of the potential riots or protests it may cause.”
“I heard that a lot of people are saying it’s unconstitutional.”
“I’ve heard that Texas is banning abortions after a woman is six weeks along, and the doctors who perform abortions in Texas can be sent to jail. Also, that if someone knows of someone who went out of state or somehow got an abortion, they can report it, and sue anyone who aided the abortion.”
Overall, I would say that the high school students I talked to were aware of the new law, and seemed informed about it. They also seemed to have opinions that were in line with other young people across the country.
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