Bill 25: Wrongful Birth Lawsuits

The SB 575, was strongly supported by Texas Alliance for Life. “The bill did make it out of the House State Affairs Committee, chaired by state Rep. Byron Cook” (Ura & Aguilar). When it got to Calendars, the committee voted it down, and Jonathan Stickland went after Cook on the House floor, things got so bad that people had to separate

locate service providers, State Representative Mary Gonzalez (D) of El Paso County in Texas immediately filed HB 90 for the 84th Legislature Session in an effort to expand family service options to vulnerable young teens seeking preventative reproductive methods.

In Griswold v. Connecticut: Birth Control and the Constitutional Right of Privacy, Johnson outlines the struggle to overturn an 1897 Connecticut anticontraception law while arguing for the right of privacy. In the case of Griswold v. Connecticut, attorney Thomas Emerson argued that the “anticontraception statutes denied Griswold and Buxton their right to liberty and property without due process of law, as guaranteed by the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Furthermore, in constructing the constitutional right of privacy, Emerson cited the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Then, in the Supreme Court’s 1965 majority opinion, Justice William Douglas stated that “The First Amendment… has a penumbra where privacy is protected from government intrusion.” He went on to elaborate that the 1897 Connecticut anticontraception law was unconstitutional because “a law such as Section 53-32 that attempts to punish the mere use of contraceptives ‘sweep[s] unnecessarily broadly and thereby invade[s] the area of protected freedoms.’” Therefore, Griswold was finally able to achieve a fight that had begun fifty years prior.

provisions in an attempt to make a woman’s decision for an abortion a more thought out

House Bill 3859, passed in both chambers of the state legislator in May, with a 93 to 49 vote in the House, and a 21 to 10 vote in the Senate.

Many women are not able to make their own decision of whether an abortion is the right

Texas continues to fight women’s rights groups for the life of the “unborn child” and has won on many levels. According to the Texas Abortion Laws, Texas includes mandatory ultrasound imaging and parental consent for minors, and women must make at least four visits to a doctor and receive an ultrasound. Women may only receive a third trimester abortion if it is necessary to prevent death or substantial risk of serious impairment to a women’s physical or mental health, or if fetus has severe and irreversible abnormality. Texas considers an illegal abortion if it destroys the vitality or life of child in birth or before (which otherwise would have been born alive); operating a facility without a license, failure to meet Board of Health standards, or failure to make reports to Department of Health; act preformed after pregnancy with intent to cause termination of pregnancy other than for purpose of birth of live fetus or removal

With the Supreme Court decision on the right of a woman to abortion in 1973, controversy still looms heavy in the opinions of the people of America. The State of Texas was the subject of challenge by a single pregnant woman (Roe) on the constitutionality of the abortion laws. This famous Supreme Court Case Roe v. Wade was concluded that the fourteenth amendment was broken by the state of Texas. Roe won her case and federalism is displayed. Federalism has been displayed throughout history and there have been good reasons for the federal government to get involved in

“Texas’s new strict legislation is already forcing women to leave the state in order to receive medical services in neighboring states more sympathetic to their desires to obtain an abortion (Hagle).” This is causing many problems for expectant mothers, especially those who have preexisting genetic medical conditions. Many time a mother may have some type of illness that can be given to a fetus during pregnancy. Sometimes these issues are seen during a routine ultrasound and sometimes there are not noticed until the time of birth. This is causing woman who live in the state of Texas to have to cross state lines when they find out something is wrong with their baby and choose to terminate the pregnancy.

Legislature has been debating over fetal rights for many years. Recently states have expanded this to include the issue of fetuses killed by violent acts against pregnant women. Some states have increased the criminal penalties

A bill that has been signed by Texas has been a focus of controversies. The abortion bill demands a list of health regulations that abortion clinics are required to adhere to. The demands are that abortion would be prohibited 20 weeks after fertilization, and also

Many argue is it the women’s or the foetus’ rights and values that are being trampled on? “Pro-choice movements sometimes fall back on an abortion rhetoric that seems to dehumanize and trivialize the death of a foetus as a way to humanize and make important the reproductive rights of women.” (Wolf p54) “Women can treat an unwanted foetus as a violation of her civil rights and is therefor justified tin using force to expel it” (McMillan pA12) The decision is not up to the mother because she is not God. Only God, the ultimate creator has the right to choose who may live and who shall die. Humans do not have the right or the power to control the quality of life and to avoid suffering. “The issue of abortion is not just life, but how life is created and the extent to which human intention and control the process, both before and after birth.

Abortion has been one of the biggest controversies of all time. Many people believe it is 100% wrong and even consider it to be murder. The definition of abortion is; “The termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to being capable of normal growth.” These pro-life believers do not support the idea of abortion and believe it should be illegal. Many of these supporters do not know that if abortion were illegal they would still be performed, unfortunately by an uneducated staff. Over 70 thousand maternal deaths occur every year because of unsafe abortions. These women die, so the idea of supporting pro-life is contradictory, this is why the nation should be pro-choice.

This is difficult for many abortion providers to achieve due to a majority of hospitals having religious affiliations which disapprove of abortions. HB-2 also sets clinic standards similar to surgical centers such as; specific doorway and room requirements, staffing and anesthesia regulations among other regulations that are not required in other outpatient clinics like birthing centers and plastic surgery clinics. The law also requires doctors to read a prepared script to patients in order to obtain “informed consent” while many of the scripts actually include medically inaccurate information like “abortions increase your risk of cancer” “those who have abortions have a higher risk of developing psychological problems and attempting suicide” and “during the procedure your fetus may feel pain.” (Dorf, "Verdict Comments", 2012) These claims has no scientific consensus and are rejected by mainstream medical organizations such as American Medical Association (AMA) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and are used solely to persuade patients against an abortion.

Women all around the United States are losing their voice to something that cannot speak; their unborn children. Pregnant women are being caught up in laws not to protect them but the baby inside them, and this means that any action or mistake they make could possibly be interpreted as harm or abuse against their child. Tripping down the stairs, taking the wrong medicine, being involved in an abusive relationship, or even simply being a victim of drug abuse can mark many pregnant women as criminals under new laws. Based on already established prejudices against drug users, the poor, and those who seek abortions, fetal protection laws set a new value on unborn children while serving to devalue the status of women. Women who get the worst treatment are those who are already trapped in prejudice guided systems, such as women of color or people living within conservative, religious oriented states. Through the discussion of the problems within fetal protection laws and the possible policy solutions that could be made, I will unravel the deeper problem with pregnancy rights and the tangled connections it has with thousands of other social issues.