A dreadful backward step

Unless you are sterilised, no form of contraception is 100% foolproof. A split condom or an upset tummy while on the Pill can easily lead to pregnancy.

As others have said, women have had and will always have abortions. The question is whether we want them to be carried out in safe, hygienic circumstances or in shady, underground dives where women will die.

Unborn babies older than hers have been aborted

There may be an argument for rethinking the time limits, but given that any pregnancy is a risk to a woman's life that must surely count too.

We need to question why, when contraception is so easily available, abortion is so common

The only contraception that is 100% is total abstinence from sex. Funny how men get a total pass in this area, despite being 50% responsible for the pregnancy. Perhaps strong penalties for men that accidentally impregnate women should be enacted??

It should be remembered that the coil method of contraception stops (in almost all cases) the implantation of a fertilised ovum, which could equally be considered a termination. Even the `'mini pill" is designed to inhibit implantation of a fertilised ovum, should an ovum be released and fertilised.

Regarding Texas, I guess it’s up to them what rules they have regarding abortion, who are we to tell them what to do?
Abortion is still illegal in some countries, with much tighter restrictions than ours in many others.
How can abortion up to 24 weeks *for any reason* be right?
I think the limit should be 12 weeks unless danger to mothers life or severe disability of the baby.

It’s so archaic, no doubt brought to law mainly by men.
Abortion is not a nice procedure to go through but nor is having a child you don’t want or are unable to care for properly.

I’d actually argue that abortion on demand gives plenty of men ‘freedom’, gets many of them off the hook - so to speak.
How many men tell women to ‘just get rid of it’ knowing it’s easily accessible and safe.
Of course there will always be some very desperate women who will seek an abortion even if it’s not legal, but the numbers we see today are not all extremely desperate women. I’ve heard of women aborting because the baby would ruin their holiday plans.
Many women are coerced into them by men.
Probably why some women have voted the way they have.

The coil has also been the cause of a lot of gynaecological problems Rosie51
I think this law is draconian and as someone else said I hope the state will be providing care for the unwanted and disabled children born as a result of this. To say nothing of mental heath care for the mothers.

I wonder what they will call the new department running this. The one processing the payments to those who accuse and take women, and any man the "informer" believes has helped, to court. The Stasi and The Eyes have been taken. I wonder what they will come up with?

It’s shocking enough that this is happening in Texas because women will then turn to illegal methods of abortion, but what is really chilling is the 10,000 dollar ‘reward’ to anyone who reports on this.

I imagine Texas will loose people to other states over time - unless they decide to cut themselves off from the rest of the world. Of course, the wealth holders will be able to get round this. The poor and the extremely poor will be the ones who pay, in all ways, for this law.

Goodness knows, but what sort of person would do that for a living?

Actually, it's probably the sort of thing that steals up on employees, so you might start as a basic 'general' civil servant or health admin worker, who gradually moves into a role in the department of WhateverItIs, and the Accuse forms are just some of the ones you process, until there is a chance of promotion to supervisor at an extra dollar an hour, so you take it, and the next thing you know it's been re-organised so that Accusations and Prosecutions have become a department of its own. Five years later you are leading that, and there's a certain satisfaction in being able to make decisions about other people's lives - I mean you're a reasonable person after all, and some people would be much more draconian.

It's important that you keep your stats up, as some of those younger people are ambitious and snapping at your heels. You really have to come up with new initiatives to impress your boss at the monthly meeting of departments heads, so you wrack your brains and come up with ideas to turn neighbours against one another and let them settle feuds at a stroke. . . .

I'm sure you are right Doodledog. But it seems we never learn. I have a strong sense of time going backwards at the moment.

Women will have abortions, history provides the evidence. The choice is obvious, it can be done in regulated, assured, hygienic, safe, non-exploitative conditions or not.
Our personal feelings and views can only apply to self.
With surrogacy and trafficking Texas has opened a nasty door. If a baby is not registered at birth, s/he does not exist and a death certificate is not required, nor can a missing person report be made. The implications are terrifying because as they say, follow the money!

Reducing women's rights is one of the early sign of danger of fascism.

The Atlantic magazine has produced a couple of interesting articles on this. One is that it may backfire on Republicans. They suggest there are a number of voters who’ve previously voted Republican whilst holding their noses but that this clamp down on women’s rights will send them into the arms of the Democrats.

Elsewhere, an article suggested this manoeuvre of getting private citizens to do the work for you could have unexpected consequences. This Texan law doesn’t make abortion illegal, it simply gives citizens the right to sue abortion-facilitators. The same legislation could be used for gun laws. A State needn’t ban the possession of firearms but it could open the way for private citizens to sue anyone who possesses a gun. Now that would worth doing.

Of course as in the past rich women will be able to travel and have their abortion somewhere else. It's the poor and those who just get by who will really suffer.
Kandinsky Is it worth risking the life of even one woman to prevent these women, who are allegedly having abortions on a whim, doing so? I think it isn't. And I have never met any woman who would do such a thing, nor anyone who knows such a woman. It's always a woman someone has heard of. I suspect it's an urban myth circulated by anti-abortionists.

How interesting Sue. It's here if anyone wants to read it.

I do know women who have had an abortion, I do not know any women who has had an abortion on a whim

I appreciate that this is an emotive subject but any retrograde step in women’s rights is wrong.

This is a country that is more concerned about people’s right to carry a gun than mass shootings in schools so why should we be surprised by this. (apologies for my anger but I’m angry about so many things at the moment it’s all building up a bit!)

GrannyGravy13

I do know women who have had an abortion, I do not know any women who has had an abortion on a whim

I appreciate that this is an emotive subject but any retrograde step in women’s rights is wrong.

Exactly. The idea that women want to use abortion as a form of contraception is not backed up by anything I have ever seen or heard, either in my personal or professional life.

I understand people passionately disapproving of others making the choice to terminate a pregnancy, but I don't think that anyone has the right to tell others what to do in the way that the so-called 'pro-Life' lobby wants to do.

This just strengthens my view that the U.S. is a very backward country indeed .I wonder if they realise what other countries think of the land of the free.

GrannyGravy13

I do know women who have had an abortion, I do not know any women who has had an abortion on a whim

I appreciate that this is an emotive subject but any retrograde step in women’s rights is wrong.

Exactly.

MayBee70

This is a country that is more concerned about people’s right to carry a gun than mass shootings in schools so why should we be surprised by this. (apologies for my anger but I’m angry about so many things at the moment it’s all building up a bit!)

Too much shifting under us MayBee. It makes for both sadness and anger.

Someone told me years ago that many Americans are very dependent on the church due to lack of social care, and it’s the churches that provide it. On the American Facebook pages I’m on people are always going on about the power of prayer to solve just about everything.

westendgirl

This just strengthens my view that the U.S. is a very backward country indeed .I wonder if they realise what other countries think of the land of the free.

I've a feeling that many of them think the same about us - because they know so little about us. I really think suggesting that a whole nation is backward because one redneck state shows it's colours is overegging the pudding.