The Supreme Court has allowed a new Texas law banning abortion after six weeks, which went into effect on Sept. 1, 2021. This new law prevents abortion after a heartbeat is detected in a forming fetus, and there is no exception for rape or incest. Most heartbeats are detected during someone’s sixth week of pregnancy, but during this time, most women don’t know they are pregnant yet. At this time, there are still many fighting over its legality since Republicans voted for this new law. 

Before this law was passed in Texas, terminating a pregnancy was something everyone had a right to do. In 2019, there was a total of 57,929 abortions that were reported from abortion clinics to Texas Health and Human Services. This year, from months January to May, there were 13,751 abortions in abortion clinics that have been reported. The numbers will continue to drop because of this new law, which won’t let any more people have abortions.

Students at Middle College High School shared their thoughts about their opinion on the lack of awareness and knowledge many people have on abortion in Texas.

“The new law is stupid; I think there isn’t many people who know about this or aren’t properly informed,” said junior Bryanna Rodriguez.

Junior Susana Giles also said, “Many people aren’t up to date with the latest news and many learn more about topics like these through social media or friends.” 

In this new law, it prevents women from obtaining abortions after a heartbeat is detected which is usually at five to six weeks of pregnancy. After these six weeks have passed, women can’t get abortions and if you do, it becomes illegal. 

“I do not believe this is fair to women; it’s unjustified. It doesn’t give women enough time to know if they are pregnant or not; by the time they miss their menstrual cycle, they may already be at four weeks. For women who have irregular periods, missing their menstrual cycle can just be a normal month for them so they don’t think anything of it.” said Giles. 

Giles and junior Jennifer Lopez are concerned about the women in Texas. 

Giles said, “I know they might feel scared because they may think what could happen if they do end up pregnant. What if women do not have support from those around them? It can be scary to know they are going to have to do it all alone.” 

“If they are past the six weeks, they may feel scared and freak out or not know what to do, so something important they may do is look at resources from states around,” Lopez said.

Another part of the law is that anyone who may have been involved with the abortion can get a fine and may have to go to court because of the “aiding and abetting” part of the Senate Bill. It can be the person driving you there, people who may know around you, doctors who may perform your abortion, or anyone like these.

“This is so unfair because it may be possible that an Uber or Lyft driver might not know where they are driving you to and they would need to pay a fine for just doing their job,” said Rodriguez.

If there are doctors who perform an illegal abortion, they will have to go to court, pay a fine, and they may even have their license revoked. Since there is no exception for rape or incest, this law if very unfair since if something like that happens, you will be forced to give birth to that baby even though you may not want it.”

Lopez said, “I am deeply devastated by this law knowing women don’t have the ability to abort anymore in Texas because of the six weeks law. I hope other states do not follow or make similar laws to these since all we want is to be able to control our own bodies.”