Abortion in Texas
Abstract page
This paper is concerned with abortion cases in Texas. Policy and amendments regarding abortion cases in Texas have, over time, led to reduced abortion facilities. The paper would discuss abortion in Texas and the fundamental facets of safety among adult women in Texas. The decline in medical-aided abortion is a result of a lack of accessibility rather than illegality. The paper would use the quasi systemic review to gather information about the abortion cases in Texas. The legislation in the parliaments, the campaigns about pro-life and pro-choice are among the critical aspects of discussions fueling the hot debates about abortion in Texas. The study found that there are majorly three institutions that are concerned about the topic of abortion in Texas. These include the state representative, pro-life, and pro-choice people. The regulation about abortion in Texas should be critically formulated to make sure that people’s rights and freedom are not infringed.
Introduction
Medical facilities in Texas procuring abortion have continuously been dropping for decades, now raising the problem of increased cases of out-of-hospital abortions. The paper would discuss abortion in Texas and the fundamental facets of safety among adult women in Texas Schlosser, 2016). The decline in medical-aided abortion is a result of a lack of accessibility rather than illegality. In recent years, the state of Texas has undergone a lot of legal changes about abortion. There have been hotly contesting and sharp antagonistic views about the pro-life and pro-choice people campaigning for their stand. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Why Texas should legalize abortion
Texas, since the early 1900s have had cases of medical –aided abortions that were safe to their citizens. The decline in the number of medical facilities procuring abortion has led to an increase in the number of unsafe and out-of-hospital abortions, which is not safe (Grossman et al. 2015).
Texas provides its citizens with the constitutional rights to decide whether they should become parents. Schlosser (2016) discuses that abortion laws allow a woman to make a choice, including procuring an abortion if she feels like the best options. Minors with less than 18 years can procure an abortion with parental consent or through filing a judicial application. Primarily women should be given a chance to choose and determine what to do with their bodies.
Fifty-five thousand four hundred forty cases of abortion were reported in Texas in 2017, and the facts are increasing.
The reproductive age of 15-44 represents 13.5 abortions per 1000 women. There are cases when women traveled from other states to Texas to procure an abortion. Abortion in Texas represents 6.4 % of all the abortions in the United States (Schlosser 2016)
Legalizing abortion increases the safety measures for the women and also improves the level of accountability among the medical practitioners. On the other hand, state representatives in Texas have a different perspective on the control and safety of abortion for adult women.
Where women obtain an abortion
Across the United States, there were 1587 facilities providing abortion. Abortion clinics, hospitals, private physicians’ offices, non-specialized clinics. Ninety-six percent of Texas counties did not provide abortions procedures by 2017, which is a significant decrease in the number of places where women can obtain an abortion. As the number of abortion cases in the medical-aided facilities decreases, there has been an increase in the number of women who need help to procure an abortion because they either cannot find a clinic or the procedure is very expensive.
In Texas, the number of abortion clinics has reduced to only 23 clinics in the whole state. Some women have to travel long miles to get to an abortion clinic, which many say is extremely expensive (Schlosser, 2016).
The women in Texas, travel long distances to get abortion services. For example, a woman in Lubbock with 250000 people is 310 miles away from the closest abortion clinic. Odessa is 280 miles from the nearest abortion clinic. This indicates that one must travel to greater distances and spend more to procure an abortion.
Why Texas should not legalize abortion
Scholars and researchers have deduced that abortion in Texas is not illegal, but rather, it is not available to the people (Baum et al. 2016). Among other reasons. Legalizing abortion is mostly associated with the contrary, social practices as the citizens would increasingly prefer to procure an abortion instead of using other means of family planning (Grossman et al. 2015).
Up until September 2019, abortion in Texas has been procured with fewer restrictions and controls. The state representatives in Texas have introduced new rules and regulations covering the procurements of abortion. Some of these rules and regulation including but not limited to the following;
Women who wish to procure an abortion in Texas should have a document presented to them, discouraging them about procuring an abortion. Once served with the document, the woman should stay for at least twenty-four hours before procuring the abortion. This law is meant to control the number of abortion cases in Texas due to the increased abortion cases procured out of the medical aided facility.
The state has regulated insurance policies covering abortion only to include the cases where it relates to life endangerment situations. By altering the insurance policies, it reduces the instances of procuring an abortion for women. This is a move by the Texas government to reduce abortion cases.
Another aspect indicates that abortion is undergoing discouragement in Texas include the fact that Texas requires one may procure an abortion at more than twenty-week of pregnancy only in cases of life endangerment.
Campaigns staged by the pro-life have continuously highlighted the advantages of eradicating abortion, and more importantly, the disadvantages of abortion. Among others, the pro-life members argue that abortion procedures are against humanity and, therefore, should be discouraged. Additionally, it is not safe to healthy for women and not fair for the unborn baby.
Visual aid
The graph indicates a decline in the number of facilities providing residential abortion in the states of Texas. The results provide an alarming indication of the cases of abortion and particularly the effects of policy formulations. Abortion facilities have continuously reduced for decades (Quast et al. 2017). In 1980 the number of facilities was 130s across the states, and the number is steadily decreasing. By 1995, the number had dropped half about 73 abortion clinics. Between 200 and 2005, the number remained relatively constant until the introduction of the abortion restriction rules. The number of these facilities significantly reduced to only 23 abortion clinics in 2015. The restricted abortion rule in Texas is responsible for the continuous decrease in the number of facilities. Arguments by pro-life and pro-choice have heightened discussions about abortion and its regulations.
References
Baum, S. E., White, K., Hopkins, K., Potter, J. E., & Grossman, D. (2016). Women’s experience is obtaining abortion care in Texas after the implementation of restrictive abortion laws: a qualitative study. PloS one, 11(10), e0165048.
Grossman, D., Hendrick, E., Fuentes, L., White, K., Hopkins, K., Stevenson, A., & Potter, J. E. (2015). Knowledge, opinion, and experience related to abortion self-induction in Texas. Contraception, 92(4), 360-361.
Quast, T., Gonzalez, F., & Ziemba, R. (2017). Abortion facility closings and abortion rates in Texas. INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 54, 0046958017700944.
Schlosser, A. (2016). The Impact of Supply-Side Abortion Regulation Policies in Texas (Doctoral dissertation).