The New Heartbeat Bill is a Threat to Women


by Honor Davis

Abortion is the intentional act of terminating a human pregnancy. Abortion is healthcare and abortion is a right. To have this right stripped away is a direct attack on women and bodily autonomy. In the United States abortion was practised widely until the criminalisation in 1880. However, government intervention spawned over concerns with poisoning- not morality, politics or religion.

The Heartbeat Bill being put forward today does not do so in the interest of women’s health, but the abject opposite. Abortion is often demonised as the only form of birth control used by irresponsible women. This is in fact a gross misrepresentation, as a notable number of abortions take place in order to support the physical health of pregnant people. In cases where a patient is at risk of heart failure or develops preeclampsia (in which they would have a very high blood pressure), but not at risk of dying - an abortion could not legally take place under this legislation. The intricacies vary from state to state but ultimately once a heartbeat can be found -which is at six or twelve weeks depending on the method used- an abortion can not take place. To be clear, death must be imminent for a person to receive healthcare. By making that fact so, it causes women to be driven underground thus making mortality rates of desperate pregnant people to rise.

Forced pregnancy also has the power to cause problems beyond the physical. Pregnancy is a nine month long experience that can cause or reawaken a range of mental health endangerments due to increased hormone production. Conspicuously, the bill is devoid of ways it can support women with pregnancy either financially or physically. Giving birth - without complications - can cost between $10,800- $30,000. If a safe alternative is not being provided to these women, why is there no support in place of it? Why is the foster-care system under-funded and adoption agencies allowed to discriminate based on sexuality, further depriving children of a family? Why does pro-life stop once the life becomes viable?

These lingering questions depict the truth of anti-choice- it is not about giving rights to a clump of cells, it is about taking away women’s autonomy. The same people striding for small government are keen to reach out and control individuals in this matter. The Heartbeat Bill does more than represent divided America; it outlines the engrained and systematic oppression ingrained in the political system held in place by the patriarchy.

Yet one article on a school blog is not what is going to have an affect. With intense media coverage on the bill it is easy to forget about ignored rights in the UK and Ireland. On the first of January this year, Ireland decriminalised abortion. In Northern Ireland, people still do not have a right to abortion. Comfortingly, steps are being taken to include Northern Ireland in the UK’s law.

Finally, I believe it would be a disservice not to mention the unmistakable lapse in humility in the Heartbeat Bill regarding rape survivors’ rights. Under the bill’s legislation neither rape nor incest are plausible reasons to receive an abortion. More shockingly, in Arkansas a rapist is entitled to sue if his victim is found with the intent of getting an abortion. One rapist was given joint custody with a twelve year-old to their biological child. An Ohioan girl of age eleven right now may be forced to carry a reminder of her pain to term if the bill had been taken into effect earlier. The new bill does not protect these children. They have heartbeats too. Doctors found to have performed an abortion would be found guilty of a class A felony and could face 10-99 years in prison. To compare rape is a class B felony and could entail less prison time.

It is important to remember that this bill has not come into effect everywhere in the United States and there are organisations such as the ACLU fighting against this. However, that does not eliminate the fact that this bill represents. The threat is all too real and lives are already on the line.


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