Statement on Texas Abortion Ban

As a collective of professional sexuality educators, writers, non-profits, and others who support the fundamental right to comprehensive, honest, inclusive, medically-accurate education and reproductive healthcare, we vehemently oppose Texas SB 8, which bans abortion after 6 weeks of gestation and deputizes ordinary citizens to profit from the reproductive decisions a pregnant person may have to make.

This law reflects the misogynistic and racist attitude towards individuals who have been systematically oppressed. Individuals most affected by this law are those who are unable to access out-of-state medical care due to financial constraints.

Additionally, because ordinary citizens are now emboldened to police their neighbors, the ability to seek assistance for reproductive health care options has virtually disappeared, making a future filled with illegal, deadly abortions for desperate people inevitable.

It is worth noting that biological males who cause these pregnancies are not held responsible under this ruling.

By controlling the medical choices of pregnant people, primarily white male lawmakers have removed one of the fundamental rights of all citizens: the right to make their own decisions about their healthcare.

These lawmakers purport to be pro-life but, at the same time, they are dismissive of mask mandates, claiming these mandates to be in violation of their healthcare rights. Meanwhile, the wearing of masks during this worldwide pandemic has helped to slow and prevent the spread of COVID-19, a disease that has, at this point, claimed millions of lives. Pro-life? The disconnect is glaring.

At the same time, a “constitutional carry” law has gone into effect in Texas, a law that allows citizens to openly carry guns without training or license. This is not a pro-life stance.

Oppressive and misogynistic directives will not resolve the issue of unintended pregnancies. In fact, the financial repercussions of this commandment, not to mention the deadly consequences, will constitute another very dark chapter in our history. Rather, funding comprehensive, inclusive sex education in schools and providing access to affordable birth control are logical uses of funding. For example, when we educate young people how to properly use and access effective birth control, pregnancy rates decrease; not because they are having less sex, but because they are having safer sex. (Guttmacher, 2020)

Texas SB 8, which the Supreme Court of the United States refused to block, undermines the law of the land already established under Roe v Wade. Contact your representatives and let them know that a person’s right to comprehensive reproductive health care must be protected.

Texas SB 8 is designed to continue the oppression of individuals who have been historically silenced, suppressed and marginalized.

As sex education professionals in the Sex Education Alliance, we decry Texas SB 8 for our youth, our families, and for those who require access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare services.

 

Kim Cook, RN, CHES, Founder Sex Education Alliance