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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas offers a real-time glimpse into a stunning new national landscape as the Supreme Court drastically restricts abortion rights: GOP-led states that allow almost no access to abortions and women traveling hundreds of miles end their pregnancies.
No more distant prospect, both sides of the always controversial abortion debate are actively preparing for life after Roe v. Calf forward.
What if the Supreme Court uses its pending Mississippi case to revoke a 1973 statewide right to abortion? Texas has been there for three months.
On September 1, state law went into effect banning abortions about six weeks before some women even know they are pregnant. And so far the Supreme Court has refused to block this – showing no urgency as it has allowed the nation’s most restrictive abortion law in more than 50 years to stay on the books.
“What we’ve seen in Texas in the past three months is a preview of a post-Roe world,” said John Seago, legislative director of Texas Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group.
“You will have conservative states that are implementing very bold pro-life laws to protect pregnant women and innocent children from abortion. And then there are states that become destination states in which people travel. “
For Texan women, those goals since September have not only included neighboring Oklahoma and Louisiana – states where GOP lawmakers could further restrict abortion depending on the upcoming Supreme Court opinion – but even as far as the west and east coasts, after abortion providers and their allies. Some providers in Texas say patient volumes in their clinics have dropped to just a third of the usual level.
During Wednesday’s nearly two-hour debates, all six Conservative Supreme Court justices announced they would uphold Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks. It will take months for a decision to be made. Several suggested that Roe himself is in danger.
Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman’s Health, which operates four clinics in Texas, heard little signs of encouragement as she listened to the judges. She said she has been doing “post-roe planning” for several years, including maps in her office showing what travel will be like for women in states with restrictions, Texan style.
Right now, their Texan clinics are only seeing 20-30% of the number of patients they cared for at this time a year ago. Her clinic in Dallas is less busy as it is closer to neighboring states with less restrictive abortion laws. Further south, at her clinic on the US-Mexico border, patients are “desperately trying to get in as soon as possible,” including some who don’t yet know they are pregnant.
Others who arrive are told that they are too advanced to end their pregnancy under Texas law.
“We still see them kind of frozen and shocked and not necessarily straight into a plan of action about what’s next,” said Hagstrom Miller. “That surprised some of us. You know, we thought maybe we could put ourselves in a position to make a recommendation and try to help you take the next steps. But I think people are just stunned. ”
To make matters worse for providers in Texas is another new restriction that went into effect Thursday and makes it a crime to post abortion-inducing drugs and ban them after seven weeks of pregnancy. Hagstrom Miller said 65% of her patients choose drug abortion, which has grown in popularity since regulators approved it two decades ago.
The Biden government and Texas vendors sued Texas’ near-ban abortion, but the pace of the Supreme Court took both sides by surprise.
The court raised expectations that it would act very quickly when it agreed to try the cases on an expedited schedule reserved for some of the most momentous cases in its history. These include Bush versus Gore after the 2000 election, the Pentagon Papers, and the Watergate tapes, all of which were heard and decided within days or weeks, not months.
As for Texas law, the way it is written has so far made it unusually difficult to challenge in court. The question the judges are asking is whether the Department of Justice and abortion providers can even challenge the law in federal court.
It is impossible to tell where things are in the Supreme Court, where the judges on both sides usually privately exchange and review opinions before making a decision.
With no action taken so far, it seems clear the court is five votes short, a majority of the nine-member panel, to put Texan law on hold.
When abortion providers asked the court to prevent the law from going into effect, the judges rejected it by 5 to 4 votes, with presiding judge John Roberts joining his three liberal colleagues.
Dr. Bhavik Kumar, an employed physician at Planned Parenthood in Houston, estimates the number of patients treated since Texas law went into effect has decreased by 30-50%.
Clinics in neighboring states, he said, have backlogs from patients who are from Texas. And that does not apply to pregnant women who are simply too poor to be able to afford a trip to another federal state.
“When we think of the states they could travel to, we know they just can’t take in the amount of patients who need help,” he said. “It’s very scary to think about how we’re going to provide care.”
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Sherman reported from Washington.
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