At Least 100,000 Texas Women Have Induced Their Own Abortions
The Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP) yesterday released a groundbreaking report on self-induced abortion. The report found that at least 100,000 Texas women have ever attempted to end a pregnancy on their own without medical assistance. These findings demonstrate that in the face of burdensome restrictions on abortions, like Texas’ onerous House Bill 2 (HB2), women will resort to self-induction to terminate their pregnancies.
The Texas law has shuttered 22 clinics, leaving only 19 clinics across the entire state, cutting women’s access to safe, legal abortion. “Women still need abortions in our communities, and many of those women take matters into their own hands. Poor Texas women are finding themselves experimenting on their bodies when abortion is supposed to be legal,” said President and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, Amy Hagstrom Miller, whose organization is the lead plaintiff in the legal challenge against HB2. The study confirms that when women don’t have access to abortion options and accurate health information, they will use whatever options and information are available, even if those turn out to be inaccurate or dangerous.
“Every woman should be able to get safe reproductive care in her community, including prenatal care, birth control, and abortion,” continued Hagstrom Miller.
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