The Banning of Abortion:  Where Do We Go from Here?

The recent Supreme Court ruling that gives states the legal authority to ban abortions has left many of us grieving this decision to restrict the reproductive rights of women and worrying about the consequences of this repeal of Roe v. Wade. Advocates for the reproductive rights of women and abortion clinic providers in the 26 states where abortions are expected to be criminalized must now contemplate what actions we will take to address the new legal bans on abortion that will result from the Supreme Court’s decision.  At the same time, we need to understand the impact this radical change in the reproductive rights of women will have on the health landscape in states like Texas.   

In anticipation of this Supreme Court ruling, Texas is among the 16 states that have already passed “trigger laws” against abortion, meaning that abortions will be legally banned in this state.  Plan B (morning after) pills and contraceptives will still be legal but women seeking an abortion will now have to travel to Mexico, New Mexico or some other state to obtain a legal abortion or abortion drugs. The legal reaction to this legislative ban on abortions has been swift with a state district judge in Houston already ruling that abortions can be administered up to six weeks of pregnancy.   Several district attorneys in large liberal urban areas in Texas have also indicated they will not prosecute women getting local abortions.  As the Texas Tribune has noted, the tens of thousands of women in Texas who got an abortion each year will now be forced to seek abortions in states or countries where abortion is still a legal option.  Pursuing this option, however, raises issues with regard to the ability of women to afford the costs for traveling and receiving medical care for a legal abortion away from their home. 

Many of us see the dangers and difficulties that this total ban on abortions will create.  While we appreciate the sanctity of life argument that pro-life voices have been promoting, the absolutist rejection of legal abortions makes no room for pregnancies from rape, incest, or that jeopardize the health of the mother.  Women’s health care providers are now worrying about the maternal care of pregnant women from sexual violence or with chronic health issues.  Consequently, some women’s reproductive rights organizations and a few progressive faith communities are considering ways to help women in Texas who are seeking an abortion to travel to states or places where abortions continue to be legal.  Democrats in Texas have vowed to fight for the reproductive rights of women in the upcoming elections and the state legislative session Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other Canadians have condemned the U.S. Supreme Court ruling as being medically and morally narrowminded. His government has said it will not turn away Americans who are unable to get abortions at home. But the ability of Texas women to seek legal abortions out-of-state now leaves many medical providers in those states and countries stretched thin.

To me, this absolutist legal ban on abortions is both medically narrow-minded and morally misguided.  Compassionate medical care requires the recognition that some pregnancies pose severe threats to the health of would-be mothers and when an abortion is a medically necessary option in these cases.  On the other hand, abortions should not be administered as a routine birth-control option for women and men who do not practice safe sex or use contraceptives.  This ban on abortion now necessitates a commitment to fund sex education in schools and to make contraceptives more widely available to sexually active partners rather than a puritanical attitude about sex and child=birth.  Likewise, the moral issues about protecting the sanctity of life with regard to the unborn is contradicted in states like Texas that ignore or suspend the sanctity of life principle when it comes to capital punishment and engaging in war.  This moral absolutism about abortion has also been adopted by many conservative Christians who believe that God prohibits the taking of unborn life on the basis of a couple of passages in the Bible (Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalm 139: 13-16).  I find this fundamentalist orientation to the issue of abortion to be a narrow and biased view of what the Bible has to say about unborn children and pregnant mothers.  Simply by reading biblical texts like Exodus 21: 22-25, Numbers 5: 11-31; Deuteronomy 28:18,53, and Ecclesiastes 4: 2-3 we see that biblical writers did not see think that God had given some ontological status of sacredness to the unborn. According to Matthew 24:19, Jesus even saw God’s final activity in the world to negate concerns for unborn children and pregnant women. So, I think it is spiritually disingenuous to claim that the Bible provides unambiguous or clear-cut moral certainty about abortions.  Modern medicine actually provides mothers and families with evidence of birth defects and abnormalities in the womb that should be considered in determining whether or not an abortion may be an act of compassion and mercy. 

Practically speaking, those who are righteously against abortions of any kind are often less concerned about the well-being of human life and children after they are born. The lack of funding in Texas for programs that support vulnerable children living in poverty belies in my mind the calls of pro-life abortion advocates to protect the life of the innocent.   My rejection of a state’s legislative action to dictate the reproductive rights of women without exceptions is tied fundamentally to my opposition to society limiting the rights of women to exercise freedom over their bodies and to determine their health choices.  For these reasons, I am a conscientious objector to any total ban on abortions. 

So, given the latest draconian approach to banning abortions in states like Texas, I am among those who believe we must prepare now to deal with the consequences of this legal action for the sake of women’s rights and health care.