I am a 22-year-old female college student living in rural South Texas. At this stage in my life, sexual and reproductive health is of the upmost concern.
Unfortunately for me and the other 29 million residents of Texas, sexual and reproductive health is not of the upmost concern to our state and the individuals who run it.
In 2013, more than 40 abortions clinics were operating in Texas. This number dropped by over half in the years that followed July 12, 2013; i.e. the day that House Bill 2 passed. This bill required abortion clinics and their staff to adhere to impractical and, in most cases, impossible standards, effectively closing the majority of abortion clinics in Texas.
Requirements of HB2 included, “Abortion doctors were required to have admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic. All abortions clinics were required to upgrade to become ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). Abortions after 20 weeks were prohibited, except in the case of ‘severe fetal abnormalities’ or to ‘avert the death or substantial and irreversible physical impairment … of the pregnant woman.’ Women who take abortion-inducing pills, must do so under the supervision of a physician, requiring two trips to the clinic for each dosage,” as stated by The Independent.
HB2 was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2016, but the damage had already been done.
As of today, there are only 22 abortion clinics operating in Texas. In addition to losing the majority of abortion performing clinics, the remaining clinics are not easily accessible to everyone in Texas.
This poses a major issue for women, like me, who live in South Texas or rural West Texas. These two geographic areas have the least amount of resources in the state when it comes to sexual and reproductive health.
“…Women living in rural Texas were affected the most, What we saw is that [in] West Texas and South Texas, access was incredibly limited,” Investigator of Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University Of Texas Kari White says, “and women living in those parts of the state were more than 100 miles — sometimes 200 or more miles — from the nearest facility,” as stated by NPR.
Abortion clinics going extinct in Texas is not a matter of moral debate, it is a sexual health crisis. With infamously pathetic attempts at sexual education in the Texas public school system, it is more important than ever that we save these clinics from nonexistence.
These facilities provide more than just legal abortions. They provide community outreach, sexual and reproductive education, medical resources and are essential in working towards a more inclusive and progressive society.
