In recent weeks, Texas lawmakers have been roaring with the freedom to choose to wear a mask, as the mask mandate has been lifted for the State of Texas.“My body, my choice,” has been a term used by women’s rights activists on abortions for a very long time now. As the mask mandate was lifted, restrictions on women’s bodies drastically became stricter. Now everyone has the choice to choose to wear a mask, but women still do not have the right to choose when it comes to abortion rights.

 The new law enacted in the state of Texas makes abortions after 6 weeks of being pregnant illegal with no exceptions. My main concerns include how options for pregnant women have been slashed. All women should be allowed the option to have a child. Different groups of women will suffer in their own ways, as both young girls and financially unstable women who cannot raise a child will have no choice. Victims of rape or incest must birth a child made from an awful event. Women who will die by giving birth now have no choice. Our choices for our own bodies have been cut and restricted. This is not only unconstitutional, but it causes panic and fear for women everywhere, in Texas and around the country. 

The new law also makes citizens into police officers. It incentivizes anyone who may know of, or be helping a woman have an abortion, to report it for a monetary reward. Uber drivers or other personal lift companies can report people they drive to abortions and those who help them such as nurses or doctors. Although Uber and Lyft have responded saying they will pay legal fees for any employees accused of transporting patients to get abortions, but that still does not eliminate the problem of drivers turning in women who they drive to abortion clinics. This completely eliminates the idea of a safe abortion. By restricting abortions, the government is only restricting safe ones, since desperate women will try to perform their own at home abortion, which can be extremely dangerous. Many have resorted to ordering abortion pills online or going out of state to visit abortion clinics. Both are not feasible for many low income women who cannot afford to travel or pay for pills. 

Teen girls who are too young and those who cannot deliver a child safely now have no choice. As a teenage girl myself, I cannot imagine raising a child at such a young age with little support. Additionally, the trauma of having a child born from an awful event such as rape or incest is a burden that no one should have to bear. 

One fear of mine is women dying because they are forced to give birth. Some women who have life-threatening diseases that disable them from properly carrying a child must now face death without the option of an abortion. Some families that have to face this decision now have to choose between a woman and her unborn child. I have always thought about it as a house burning down from a fire. Picture yourself in a room with a bottle of embryos and a young woman. You can only save one. Many people I presume would save the women. So, when did we start putting women’s lives below unborn embryos? 

My major concern is that many states will follow in Texas’ footsteps by restricting women’s rights. New Hampshire has already begun debating enforcing stricter abortion laws and limiting planned parenthood. So are other states. If we continue in these ways, who knows how far this law will go. We must act now to protect the rights and lives of women everywhere. All over the state people are coming together and holding marches. The Women’s March held one in Boston on October 2. They also allow you to organize your own march in your own town or region to stop these restrictive laws from passing elsewhere.