Sex vs. state: abortion is health care

News

Nov 8

TW: rpe and incst

Safe sex and pro-choice movements have been on the rise in the last 10 years, as are anti-abortionists. As more women rise and speak out against politicians for enacting laws that revoke their rights to abortions, the battle of sex vs. state is at its highest point. Currently, a woman’s constitutional right to abortion is being challenged by Republican-dominant states across America.

Although abortion is legal throughout the United States, it is restricted to varying degrees per state. Due to the ongoing efforts by anti-abortion “activists,” anti-abortion laws continue to be in effect in almost every state.

Abortion was legalized in 1973 when the Supreme Court affirmed access to safe and legal abortions through the Roe v. Wade case. The court’s ruling during this case declared it to be a constitutional right for a person to terminate a pregnancy within the first six months of pregnancy, also known as “pre-viability.” The legalization of abortion pre-viability was a big win for women across the United States and made headway globally. Since the groundbreaking case in 1973, political powers have had a set agenda to turn back the clock by posing arbitrary restrictions to police women’s bodies.

Currently, only seven states of 50 permit late-term abortions without any caveats. 43 states prohibit abortion after a certain number of weeks into the pregnancy, with additional caveats regarding location and financing, making abortion inaccessible despite being legal. Abortion laws in most states have been restricted to a number of weeks with only the exception of there being an irreversible threat to a woman’s body.

On Sept. 1, 2021, the most extreme abortion ban the U.S. has ever seen was enacted — Texas banned abortion after six weeks into the pregnancy. In addition to the ban of abortion services such as Planned Parenthood, there is a “bounty” issued against anyone who assists a patient to access abortion services. According to the new law surrounding abortion in Texas, anyone who performs or even aids someone else in an abortion may by sued, regardless of whether the abortion is performed or not. The Republican lawmakers are emboldening civilians rather than politicians to enforce this law within society. According to Jon Michaels, a professor of law at UCLA, “It’s a way of back-dooring and winking while constitutional violations are occurring. It is compromising democracy.”

Although the Biden administration attempted to overturn this law, the Supreme Court passed the law. This is because the Texas abortion ban relies heavily on citizens to enforce the law through lawsuits against individuals and organizations that attempt to aid those who wish to access abortion services. Unfortunately, it is likely that going forward many Republican-dominant states may enforce such a law, pushing their anti-abortion agendas through “right-wing” civilians.

During the days leading up to the enactment of this law, health care providers, Democratic politicians and civilians began protesting. When asked by a reporter, “Why force a rape or incest victim to carry a pregnancy to term?” the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, defended the law stating, “It doesn’t do that at all. It provides at least six weeks for a person to get an abortion.”

On Tuesday, Sept. 7, during an interview on CNN, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted Gov. Greg Abbott’s defense. AOC stated, “Six weeks pregnant means two weeks late for your period. And two weeks late on your period for any person— any person with a menstrual cycle — can happen if you’re stressed, if your diet changes or for really no reason at all. So you don’t have six weeks.”

AOC has been very vocal on this matter and has been an advocate for women against Republican political powers for years. In 2019, when Georgia passed its “Heartbeat Bill,” AOC took to twitter:

“For context, this kicks in within days of a typical at-home test working. If you were sexually assaulted (stress delays cycle), took a morning-after pill (throws off cycle), or have an irregular cycle, you’d have no idea. There are a TON of ways this law ignores basic biology.”

In spite of the protests, the law in Republican-dominant states remains in full effect. Women are currently fighting for their lives in Texas, trying to find ways to gain access to abortion services at little to no cost. Texas abortion rights activist Anna Rupani from Fund Texas Choice is receiving an exhausting number of requests to aid women in finding abortion services elsewhere. Prior to the six-week abortion ban, Rupani’s organization aided Texans to ensure safe, accessible and undisclosed abortion services. However, due to the restrictions, calls regarding financial aid for interstate travel erupted to find abortion services elsewhere. Unfortunately, the Texas abortion ban foreshadows what may become a reality in the near future.

In 2018, Mississippi attempted to pass the “Gestational Age Act,” prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks. Abortion after 15 weeks would only be permitted due to medical emergencies or severe fetal abnormality. Mississippi’s abortion law makes no exception for rape or incest. Mississippi’s ignorance in providing abortion health care services will be bringing forth a case that challenges the Supreme Court’s decisions against pre-viability abortions.

On Dec. 1, the Supreme Court will hear the case Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health, concerning Mississippi’s abortion law, in an attempt to challenge Roe v. Wade. The Center for Reproductive Rights will be defending the right to abortion. It will be the first time the court will be asked to judge pre-viability abortion since Roe v. Wade. The Center will be representing the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which is disappointingly the sole remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi. Due to their severe abortion laws, clinics have dissipated over the last decade. Alternatively, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, access to abortion may be entirely eliminated in states that severely restrict abortion services.

The president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights stated that if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned, “about 24 states” would ban abortion entirely with little to no exceptions. This case directly challenges the 1973 recognition of women’s constitutional rights to abortion. States such as Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and other states have severely restricted their abortion laws, and the six-week ban violates the recognition of pre-viability.

If women’s rights to safe and legal abortion is recognized a second time, it is expected that clinics will reopen and abortion services will be re-examined in every state. However, if overturned, 24 states and counting will take action to prohibit abortion entirely. Twelve states already have “trigger bans” in place, which is a bylaw under their current abortion laws that allow them to prohibit abortion immediately.

Abortion bans are a violation and assault on women’s constitutional right and autonomy over their bodies. Politicians and pro-choice activists continue to rally against the policing of women’s bodies. Unfortunately, dissipating anti-abortion laws would not solve inaccessibility to abortion in the United States. Even in states where abortion is legal, it remains inaccessible. Currently, six states only have one abortion clinic. Additionally, 27 major cities in the U.S. remain 100 miles away from an abortion clinic. This is solely due to Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) that require arbitrary licencing requirements, making it difficult for abortion services to open or remain open.

Women are also financially struggling to access safe-sex health care. Abortion is not recognized as health care by many medical funding originations, nor insurance providers. In states such as Ohio, state medical funding for abortion services is “prohibited outside of narrow exceptions.” Exceptions are limited to cases of rape, incest or life endangerment. This is due to the “Hyde Amendment” enacted in 1976. This amendment blocks Medicaid, a health care insurance company that provides cost-effective coverage to people from low socioeconomic status (low-SES) households from qualifying for their services. This means that even if a doctor recommends someone get an abortion due to health risks, Medicaid cannot cover the costs. This is an unfair policy interfering with a person's choice. Currently, Medicaid only provides coverage to 1 in 5 women aged 15-44. If all states expand their insurance programs, over a million additional women will receive safe-sex health care coverage.

Despite the claims of “immorality” regarding pre-viability abortion, politicians continue to disregard sex education, cost-effective access to birth control as a solution and preventative measure against abortion. Abortions are statistically proven to be higher in low-SES households, yet, birth control prices remain at an all-time high. In 2010, Obama implemented the Affordable Care Act (ACA) providing a wide range of health care coverage including full coverage for birth control, IUD and sterilization among other emergency contraceptives. Unfortunately, under the Trump administration, birth control and contraception affordability were threatened. Contraception in itself may place a financial burden on civilians.

Thus, abortion itself, if not covered, is a very expensive procedure to undergo. Even in states where abortion is legal, and there are few to no restrictions regarding the accessibility, it remains inaccessible financially. Political powers in almost every state have created restrictions that bar women from health care.

It is also very important to note that many communities within society are disproportionately impacted by these restrictions, most specifically women of color, immigrants and LGBT+ people. Marginalized communities continue to be outcast within the conversation of safe-sex health care and abortion services. Regardless of income, women of color and immigrants continue to face health care disparities, especially Black women, who suffer the highest number of maternal-infant mortalities than any other culture in the United States.

Historically, LGBT+ people’s reproductive health care is not met, and much of their health care is not covered by insurance. In 2020, the Trump administration reversed Obama’s non-discrimination policy in Section 1557 of the ACA. This policy made it illegal to discriminate based on “race, colour, national origin, sex, age, or disability” within the health care system. “Sex” within this act encompassed gender identity, in which Obama stated that this included “male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female.”

However, the reversal of this act made it legal for a transgender person to be refused from a doctor’s office, despite the severity of their health condition. In fact, a national transgender discriminatory survey report conducted in 2010 found that 19% of transgender and gender non-conforming people had no health care, and 31% of Black folks the same.

All these factors continue to breed the scarcity of health care among marginalized groups in the United States. Political powers continue to spread their patriarchal belief systems throughout states against sex, against women and people with uteruses. Abortion continues to not be seen as health care by these very political powers. Despite this, society does get to choose how to react to the decisions. Democracy can prevail — if those who have access to these services, provide a voice for those who don’t. It’s crucial that the right to abortion, and all safe-sex services, remain a constitutional right to all who require it.

Abortion is health care.