Beginning Oct. 29, Texas women will see state government cares more about impeding their rights than protecting them.
Texas HB2 will ban abortions after 20 weeks, prohibit off-label use of drugs and require physicians to have hospital privileges within 30 miles of where they practice.
Legislators say the law is a way to protect the health and safety of women, which it could, but it also makes getting an abortion more difficult.
Making physicians have hospital privileges is unnecessary as abortions are relatively safe procedures.
To gain hospital privileges, a doctor must admit a certain number of patients a year.
Off-label use of drugs is a prescription dosage of a drug different from U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules.
Although it sounds like a good idea, patients do not always need the full approved dosage.
Planned Parenthood Trust of South Texas has filed a lawsuit arguing that the new law is restrictive and unnecessary.
The Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutionality of abortion laws as a woman’s right to privacy, states that a state can only promote their interests in a woman’s pregnancy while they are in the third trimester.
The decision made to abort in the first trimester is up to a woman and her doctor, which will still be legal in Texas.
Many clinics that perform abortions cannot meet the new requirements because of the cost of becoming an ambulatory surgical center, which will be required for all abortions.
Women do have organizations such as Planned Parenthood looking out for them, but that is not enough.
Women, regardless if they will ever seek an abortion, need government representatives and a society that respects their right to control their own bodies.
The restrictions already in place are enough to ensure the health and safety of women.
We need to make sure voters know the positions of candidates who want to represent us to make sure we are in agreement on vital issues.
Make a choice to protect a woman’s right to choose without adding any unnecessary roadblocks.