I followed a series of stories from Texas because I care about freedom and bodily autonomy, and I wondered whether Texas would be compassionate or act to form.
It starts with a lawyer in the attorney general's office writing that Texas isn't to blame if women aren't getting life-saving abortions. Nooooo, it's those terrible cowardly doctors who refuse to risk their freedom and licenses to perform perfectly legal abortions. The lawyer, a woman, suggests that women should be looking at suing doctors, not the state.
There's a tiny bit of superficial logic to this. Possibly the doctors are being cowards. Possibly the state wouldn't consider trying to prosecute them for necessary abortions. Texas hasn't jailed any doctors yet for providing emergency abortions. So it's is possible that doctors are just being too nervous.
More likely, though, is that Texas AG office is lying, trying to throw the blame elsewhere, and providing a talking point to supporters of the strict law. A woman who is 20 weeks pregnant, whose baby has a severe and deadly chromosomal defect, filed suit to get permission for an abortion in Texas. She is already suffering serious side effects. A judge granted her permission for an abortion, with the state arguing against it. What! I thought they supported necessary abortions for the health and life of the mother. Oh, wait, that was just window dressing. The state government doesn't actually support necessary abortions.
The state appealed, got a ruling to stay the decision. And the AG showed how much they support women in this situation by threatening hospitals and doctors and reminding them that of the penalties for breaking the Texas abortion law.
So the woman decided she had to leave the state to get her necessary abortion. In the meantime, the Supreme Court of Texas doubled down on the lie that doctors have all the discretion they need.
So there it is. Texas doesn't really care how dangerous your pregnancy is. Enforcing the laws on those horrid doctors, women, and anyone else is more important.
Extras. There's pushback in many states against the stricter abortion laws. Conservatives have a set of tactics to stymie pro-choice referenda, etc.
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