On May 19th, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 8. According to Legiscan, this legislation states that, “Relating to abortion, including abortions after detection of an unborn child’s heartbeat; authorizing a private civil right of action.” This bill, in simpler words, pushes for a ban on abortion once the fetus hits the six week mark. This is when the fetus is around the size of a coffee bean, and develops a heartbeat. I believe this is a great idea because it will prevent a lot of terminations that are occurring for elective reasons. These are reasons that don’t involve rape or the health of the mother being put into danger.  

Many abortion providers are also filing lawsuits against the state. The Justice Department is even suing Texas for trying to put this bill into place. Lots of healthcare providers in Texas are outraged. People are protesting, saying that it is a violation of their rights. The reason for this chaos is something that I can not even begin to fathom.

I believe that once the fetus gets a heartbeat, it is no longer a part of you. Obviously, it’s still in the woman’s stomach, but they’re their own person. They have two eyes, two arms, two legs, and at 6 weeks, a heartbeat.

During the year 2017, around 55,440 abortions were done in Texas alone, according to the Guttmacher Studies. This makes up for 6.4% of all abortions in the US that same year. In 2018, 2.7% of all pregnancies in Texas resulted in termination. This is a very upsetting statistic to take in. 

The majority of people in America are pro choice, which is the stance of supporting the act of abortion. Everybody has the right to their own opinion, but being completely pro choice is an easier escape route in my opinion. I believe that people should only resort to abortion when all else fails. I also strongly think that many people who are pro choice would shift stances, even just a little bit, if they explored all the different options and solutions to this current issue. 

Although abortion is an extremely controversial subject to speak about, that doesn’t take away from the solutions of this ongoing problem. A really great way to help prevent abortions is to defund Planned Parenthood. If we took money from them, and instead, used it to fund things like the broken foster care system, a lot better could be done. 

The US could also use the old PP funding to make contraceptives free. By making things like birth control and condoms free, we as a country could help prevent unwanted pregnancies before they even begin to occur. 

I believe that prohibiting abortion after 6 weeks is a positive solution, not a negative one. As stated by the American Pregnancy Association, most women figure out they’re pregnant anywhere between 4 to 7 weeks of their pregnancy. This would give a few weeks of time to make the heart wrenching decision of a possible termination.

A major stereotype of ‘pro-lifers’ is that it’s always due to the person’s religious beliefs. I personally, am not a religious person. It’s a matter of morals, and how much I value human life. Everybody deserves a chance, especially when it comes to life. Equality for all is something that I strongly stand for, and that most definitely includes the unborn.