Draconian Texas Abortion Law Threatens the Health of All Our Patients

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court refused to block a Texas law that criminalizes abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy and incentivizes private citizens to sue anyone involved in the termination of a pregnancy, from the doctor to the patient to the Lyft driver who drove to the clinic. This ruling confirmed what many of us in the sexual and reproductive health space feared: the Supreme Court will no longer protect Americans from state and local governments trying to restrict bodily autonomy and eliminate the right to choose.

This ruling affects everyone — not only in Texas, but also across the country as more states look to adopt draconian laws that restrict access to sexual and reproductive healthcare. But the biggest impact will undeniably be on lower-income and other marginalized individuals who are seeking an abortion.

Abortion has and always will be available to the wealthy. Before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across the country, wealthy people could travel to a state like New York where abortion was legal or find a doctor willing to perform one illegally for a steep fee. Even today, a well-off patient in Texas seeking an abortion would only need to cross over into New Mexico to access the procedure. It might require a day or two off work, but for many that is a small price to pay for receiving essential care.

Lower-income people never had, and continue to lack, these options. Taking a day off work may be impossible if it risks your employment status or eliminates the paycheck needed to cover rent; a trip across state lines is simply unfeasible if you don’t own a car or can’t afford a ticket. This cuts to the heart of what drives health disparities in America: healthcare treatment is easily available for those with means, but often desperately out of reach for those without.

Even before this law passed, our country has faced a sexual and reproductive health crisis that affects all low-income families, but especially Black families. Black mothers are significantly more likely to die in childbirth compared to every other racial group, a fact that is tied heavily to the racial income disparities that we see across the U.S. The Texas law will only exacerbate this issue. As more people are forced to carry pregnancies to term, we will surely see more deaths that would have been preventable had patients been allowed to terminate unwanted or unviable pregnancies.

We see this crisis play out each and every day at Public Health Solutions’ sexual and reproductive health clinics. We provide care to patients from lower-income areas of New York City who often don’t have anywhere else to turn. We provide STD testing, gynecological exams, prenatal care, and contraception to patients, and recommend providers to people seeking abortions. These services are an absolutely critical part of healthcare but are all but inaccessible for many low-income and marginalized people, especially those who don’t live in a big city like New York. We know from experience that these patients often have extremely limited options for care, and as Texas-based reproductive health clinics shut down because of this new law, we know that low-income and other marginalized communities will be the first to lose access to the important healthcare they need.

The Texas abortion law is a new strategy in the longstanding attack on reproductive healthcare. Emboldened by the recent ruling, many states with regressive elected officials are trying to replicate this law and deny people across the country their right to choose. The Supreme Court already has cases on its upcoming docket that could fully eliminate Roe v. Wade. While the Justice Department has taken steps to try and block enforcement of the Texas law, there’s undoubtedly a long fight ahead. We must continue our work advocating against these laws, which, despite being couched in the language of “women’s health,” will endanger patients, rather than protect them.

With the Texas law in effect, new data suggest that abortion is now all but impossible for one in 10 reproductive age U.S. women. This statistic is terrifying and underscores why we must speak up against this and future laws restricting choice. As we fight, we must also keep in mind those on the front lines of this battle: lower-income and marginalized folks. Everyone, no matter their income, race, or gender identity, deserves access to quality reproductive healthcare services.

Lisa David, MBA, is president and CEO of Public Health Solutions, the largest public health nonprofit serving New York City.