| UNFAIR PARK | Their ing abortions out of state. Planned Parenthood announced earlier Bodies, Someone Else’s Choice Texas law is forcing women to keep un- wanted pregnancies while doing little to help impoverished, desperate women and their babies. BY SIMONE CARTER M said. The man who impregnated Cook didn’t love her, and she was just getting started in her career, working nights, she said. Her mind ran at a million miles per hour: Should she put the child up for adoption? Could she try to make it work with the father and get married? Eventually, she made the difficult deci- sion to seek an abortion, one she didn’t even tell her family about at the time. If the pregnancy had happened today, Cook would have been forced to give birth, cross state lines or endure a potentially dan- gerous underground procedure. Last year, the conservative-majority Texas Legislature virtually banned abortion with one of the strictest pieces of anti-abor- tion legislation in the United States, Senate Bill 8. One by one, Republican-led states have followed suit, and now, the U.S. Su- preme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right. SB 8 enables private citizens to sue pro- viders or others who “aid and abet” an ille- gal abortion. If the plaintiff is successful in court, they stand to receive a bounty of $10,000 plus attorneys’ fees. Anti-abortion activists have praised SB 8, which took effect Sept. 1, as an airtight piece olly Cook was devastated when they made her listen to the heartbeat. Several years ago, when she was 24, the Houston nurse was rebounding from a tough breakup and began seeing someone who wasn’t a good long-term fit. He told her that he didn’t want to use a condom. She acquiesced. Cook said she took Plan B, the emergency contraceptive, but it didn’t work. She was pregnant and heartbroken. It wasn’t how things were supposed to happen. “Everything about it was wrong,” she courtesy Molly Cook of legislation that will save the lives of countless unborn. But women’s rights advo- cates fear that it sets a dangerous legal prec- edent and endangers the health and safety of Texans seeking critical reproductive care. Days before the filing deadline last year, Cook got motivated and decided to run for state Senate. She focused on hot-button is- sues from the previous legislative session such as Texas’ faulty power grid and trans- gender rights, plus things like housing and health care. Then, to mark the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in January, Cook released a campaign video baring it all. “My name is Molly Cook. In 2014, I had an abortion,” she says in the short clip. “Abortion is a medical procedure and a per- sonal choice. Our Legislature’s role is to make sure abortions are safe, accessible and stigma-free for every Texan.” Although she ultimately lost her primary bid for the Democratic nomination, Cook is committed to forging ahead. Things are “re- ally, really bad in Texas right now,” she told the Observer, and they’re likely to get worse. To Cook, the state’s push to outlaw abor- tion is a power grab away from Texans with uteri. It’s a way to keep the marginalized down. In present-day Texas, the state’s righ- twing is further stigmatizing a procedure that’s existed for millennia, dating as far back as ancient Egypt. Cook can’t imagine how different her life Molly Cook made the difficult decision to have an abortion after Plan B failed. would be today if she’d been forced to give birth: “I feel gratitude every single day.” I n a dark gray blazer and striped red tie, Gov. Greg Abbott was beginning to get frustrated with the press. A flank of men in formal wear stood behind him. It was days after SB 8 took effect, which bans abor- tions after around six weeks, before many know they’re pregnant. The law doesn’t pro- vide exceptions for rape or incest So, when asked about forcing victims of sexual assault to carry their pregnancy to term, the Republican governor pushed back with an absurd promise. Texas would work to “eliminate all rapists,” he vowed. Abbott also wrongly said sexual abuse survivors have “at least six weeks” to seek the procedure. In reality, the six-week countdown begins on the first day of the last menstrual cycle, said Dr. Sarah Hor- vath with the American College of Obste- tricians and Gynecologists. That leaves most women just one or two weeks after they miss their period to terminate the pregnancy. In the first month after SB 8 went into ef- fect, the number of performed procedures plummeted by nearly 60%, according to Texas Health and Human Services. Yet the new law hasn’t stopped women from seek- this year that from September to December 2021, its health centers in surrounding states witnessed a nearly 800% increase in Texas abortion patients. The number of people ordering abortion- inducing medication has also skyrocketed in Texas following SB 8. Last year, during the first week of September, one nonprofit that provides those meds saw daily requests rise by 1,180%, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. The remainder of the month stayed 245% higher than the pre-ban average. “That big of a spike in requests shows us the uncertainty and chaos created by Senate Bill 8 going into effect,” the study’s lead au- thor told The Texas Tribune. “If it’s not cer- tain that you can go to a clinic and get the care that you need, people will be looking around for what other options they have.” But John Seago, legislative director for the anti-abortion organization Texas Right to Life, thinks that those numbers could be skewed by women who ordered the medica- tion but won’t necessarily use it. Since SB 8 passed, some pro-choice advocates have en- couraged people to have it on hand in case of future need. Texas Right to Life championed SB 8 and sees “elective abortion” as an act of injustice. “It’s a stronger, bigger party taking the life — through violence — of a smaller, weaker party,” Seago said. Texas is offering a preview of a post-Roe state, he continued. But while there’s been “significant progress” toward the anti-abor- tion movement’s goal, SB 8 has also revealed challenges that the state needs to address. Texas leadership must ramp up social and medical services so that women don’t feel the need to seek abortion beyond state lines, he said. But Seago, who has a doctorate in bioeth- ics, notes that not all pro-lifers are happy with the latest law. Some hard-right conser- vatives feel that it doesn’t go far enough. During a livestreamed luncheon earlier this year, a Republican state House candi- date defended his support for a bill that would have allowed law enforcement to charge women who receive an abortion with assault or homicide. The latter charge can be punishable by death. “Do we all agree that abortion is murder? Absolutely,” the candidate said. “There should be consequences for it.” Texas Right to Life doesn’t want women who seek the procedure to be prosecuted, but Seago knows there’s been public confu- sion surrounding the law. In April, a South Texas woman was charged with murder over a self-induced abortion. Although the charge was later dropped, she spent three days behind bars on a $500,000 bond, according to The Texas Tribune. It’s important to understand abortion’s legal definition, Seago said. It doesn’t in- clude treating ectopic pregnancy or any mis- carriage-related procedure, nor does it mean contraception. SB 8 also doesn’t >> p4 33 dallasobserver.comdallasobserver.com | CONTENTS | UNFAIR PARK | SCHUTZE | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | MOVIES | DISH | MUSIC | CLASSIFIED | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS DALLAS OBSERVER DALLAS OBSERVER MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 MAY 26–JUNE 1, 2022
