It was the Great Depression, and Ukrainian immigrant, Bandora, found herself destitute, alone, and pregnant. Her husband abandoned her, absconding with the girl next-door, to provide for their four children during the greatest economic crisis in history. Bandora, a poor furrier, was already struggling to put food on the table for her existing children when she learned of her pregnancy. Abortion procedures were outlawed in the 1930s; consequently, she saw no other recourse than to jump from the roof of her home and abort the baby herself; she nearly lost her life. When I heard of this story, I was dismayed, but I was even more outraged when I came to know that stories like Bandora’s are still the reality of many women to this day.  In June, 2022, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and therefore, cease to protect a woman’s right to an abortion, ensured that the subjugation of women prevails. Today, the grim impact of this ruling has emerged in “red states'' all over the country, such as Texas. The state of Texas needs to lift its abortion ban, for it criminalizes women for exercising their right to bodily autonomy and endangers their health.

Enacted in September 2021, Senate Bill 8 turns women into prisoners of their own bodies and undermines the integrity of the healthcare system. As defined in “What does Senate Bill 8 say about abortion?,” Senate Bill 8, nicknamed the Texas Heartbeat Act, proscribes the performance and induction of an abortion, given that the doctor can observe fetal cardiac activity. Fear of legal penalties, like six-figure fines and incarceration, compels physicians to knowingly withhold potentially lifesaving care from patients. What’s more, Senate Bill 8 mandates that women carry non-viable fetuses to term, which only prolongs the inevitable outcome and exacerbates mothers’ grief. I was shocked to learn that while the state of Texas cracks down on abortion care, they are, concurrently, limiting access to birth control. In 2022, a Texas court concluded that Title X clinics’ practices are a contravention of parental authority. The judge issued a verdict that binds Title X clinics to obtain parental permission before prescribing birth control to patients under the age of 18 (“Abortion and birth”). The way I see it, taking away preventions of teen pregnancy will not prompt abstinence, but rather, beget unsafe sexual relations. I believe that depriving teens, and more generally, women of a say in their reproductive health is unjust and dehumanizing.

Ignorant pro-life politicians equate adoption to abortion, as both absolve the responsibilities of parenthood; however, adoption is unable to mitigate gestation, childbirth, or the complications they bring. As explained in “Can adoption replace abortion?,” adoption cannot prevent the imperilment of women with medical conditions, nor can it alleviate the mental and physical burdens of pregnancy. Additionally, since adoption does not terminate pregnancy, it fails to address the fiscal troubles that can come along, including the inability to sustain employment and provide for a family. Unlike abortion, adoption is linked to widespread psycho-social trauma that arises when a birth mother relinquishes a child after carrying it for 9 months and developing a maternal attachment. Birth parents, like Austin resident, Scarlett Anderson, have attempted suicide in an effort to shut off the unbearable sense of loss and guilt they feel for putting their child up for adoption, even if they know it was for the best. Every child deserves to be loved and cared for, but not every woman is in the right place, mentally or financially, to be the person to do that. Adoption can be an advantageous option for some families, but the system is riddled with ghastly flaws, leaving children battered, neglected, and traumatized. Jade was only 6 years old was she was first subjected to sexual assault, corporal punishment, and psychological abuse. These nightmares became Jade’s every day while being shuffled from house to house in the Texas foster care system. In her first adoptive home, Jade was persistently sexually assaulted by her adoptive brother. When she gathered the courage to ask for help, her adoptive mother chose to protect her son instead. The abuse went on for years and only ended when her brother was indicted and pronounced guilty. Still, Jade was forced to live in that household for several years following his conviction, triggering post-traumatic stress. As reported by the Claudia Black Young Adult Center, “about 12% to 14% of adopted children in the U.S. between the ages of 8 and 18 are diagnosed with a mental health disorder each year. Adopted children are almost twice as likely as children raised by their biological parents to suffer from mood disorders like anxiety, depression and behavioral issues.” For these reasons, it is insensible to contend that adoption is a solution to restricted abortion access.

It is time to switch the narrative from the unborn to the living and try to understand the plight of women living under the abortion ban. Zurawski v. State of Texas, filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, sheds light on the unheard stories of women in Texas whose physical and mental health was jeopardized when they were prohibited from getting an abortion. The case originally featured seven plaintiffs, five women denied reproductive care and two obstetrician-gynecologists. These women’s courage to speak out emboldened other women to come forward as well. In time, 15 more women joined the fight and raised the number of plaintiffs to 22 (Sobol). One of the women, Kiersten Hogan, was detained by hospital staff and religious counselors who threatened her with capital murder charges if she tried to leave the Texas hospital and seek an abortion. Another, Kimberly Manzano, was a pious Christian who once thought herself to be anti-abortion but changed her mind when she found herself in need of one; her baby’s organs were growing outside of its body, exposing Manzano to infection. I wish I could share all 22 of these stories because the women in them give a face to the issue and are the people who initially inspired me to write this piece, but instead, I will detail just one: the story of Samatha Casiano. Samatha Casiano’s baby girl was afflicted with anencephaly, a birth defect of the neural tube, resulting in a deformed brain and skull. Babies with this condition are stillborn or die within hours of life. Casiano’s dreams of motherhood were crushed with one diagnosis, and her future, once full of promise and joy, now resounded with funeral tolling. Despite this, Casiano was refused an abortion and forced to carry and deliver a child with no chance of survival. As if this was not physically and emotionally taxing enough, four hours after birth, Casiano had to watch as her baby girl’s life ended sooner than it began. Baby Halo’s malicious disease deprived her of oxygen, causing her to gasp for air and for her skin to go purple as bruises. Her eyes bled until she was finally put to eternal rest. If Casiano had been given the abortion she had asked for, both mother and daughter would never have had to endure that inhumane torment and trauma. Baby Halo was never going to survive; the abortion would have expedited her death and reduced the pain felt by her and her mother. Many see abortion as murder, but perhaps abortion is mercy (Varney). Everyone is so focused on humanizing the unborn fetus that we forget that the woman carrying it is a life too, a life that deserves to be valued.

Thus, how women want to conduct their bodies should be their prerogative, and it incenses me that so many people, in this day and age, believe otherwise. Adherence to religious or traditional ideologies is one thing, but bringing shame upon a woman for choosing her own life over that of an embryo is entirely different. When someone makes a life choice that goes against your moral compass, that does not make their decision wrong, nor does it make them a depraved person. Disagreement is inexorable, but it does not have to provoke alienation or discrimination.

This paper is brimming with stories and statistics, but I could cut it all down to one single sentence; if a woman does not want to become a mother, she should not have to. A woman who desires an abortion because she does not want to be a mom is not any less valid than a woman seeking an abortion due to a life-threatening health condition. Motherhood is a beautiful and rewarding journey, but there is so much more to life than raising children. Some women crave total freedom, a quality compromised by parenthood, and they are allowed to want that for themselves. It is not fair to expect a woman to sacrifice her aspirations to raise a child when the man can walk away unfettered. It is not selfish to desire a life off the beaten path, one without children. We have come too far as a society to fall back on archaic standards of what a woman should be. A woman’s worth should not be determined by her motherhood but by the multidimensional individual that she is. 

Every one of us has a sense of morality and, with that, comes a social responsibility to defend the indignified and wronged. How we respond to this injustice sets the precedent for our daughters, granddaughters, and all forthcoming generations of women. Together, we have the power to guarantee that a future woman will not have to fear the infringement of her bodily autonomy and can be free to lead the life that she dreams of.

Works Cited

“Abortion and birth control access in Texas: What you need to know.” The Texas Tribune, 11 October 2023, texastribune.org/ 2023/10/11/texas-abortion-law- birth-control-what-you-need- to-know/. Accessed 19 May 2024.

Home | Claudia Black Center,  claudiablackcenter.com/. Accessed 10 June 2024.

Sobol, Virginia. “The Plaintiffs and Their Stories: Zurawski v. State of Texas.” Center for Reproductive Rights, 14 November 2023, reproductiverights. org/zurawski-v-texas- plaintiffs-stories-remarks/. Accessed 15 May 2024.

The Texas Tribune, 12 August 2022, texastribune.org/ 2022/08/12/texas-adoption- abortion-access/. Accessed 19 May 2024.

Varney, Sarah. "PERSPECTIVES; Abortion Fight Shifts to Suffering Caused by Bans; would-be Mothers -- and their Grievous Ordeals After being Denied such Rights -- Become Focus in Court." Los Angeles Times, Aug 10, 2023. ProQuest, colelibrary.idm.oclc. org/login?url= proquest.com/newspapers/ perspectives-abortion-fight- shifts-suffering/docview/ 2848070496/se-2.

“What does Senate Bill 8 say about abortions?” Texas State Law Library, sll.texas.gov/ faqs/abortion-senate-bill-8/. Accessed 19 May 2024.