According to a new study, Abortions dropped by 50% in Texas in the month after the heartbeat bill was passed. In August, 5,377 legal abort...
According to a new study, Abortions dropped by 50% in Texas in the month after the heartbeat bill was passed.
In August, 5,377 legal abortions were performed in Texas.
That number plummeted to 2,164 in September.
Abortions dropped by about 50 percent in Texas in September after a new law prohibiting most abortions went into effect, according to a new study.
The drop was ascertained by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project. The group compared the number of abortions performed at Texas clinics this September (2,164) to the amount in September 2020 (4,313).
Researchers were able to gather statistics on abortions performed at 19 of the 24 Texas abortion facilities. Those facilities perform approximately 93 percent of all abortions in the state.
The law, which went into effect on Sept. 1, bars physicians from performing an abortion without first testing for a fetal heartbeat. If the heartbeat is detected, an abortion can only be done if the doctor determines a medical emergency exists.
This has upset liberals.
Dr. Allison Gilbert, a physician and medical director at the Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center in Dallas called the events “devastating.”
“I think people are just high-tailing it as fast as they can into a clinic, because they are just so afraid they are not going to get an abortion,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, the chief executive of Whole Woman’s Health, which runs four clinics in the state. “People are coming before they have a positive pregnancy test or before we can see something on an ultrasound, just because they are so afraid.”
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At Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center in Dallas, about half of patients who thought they were early enough to receive an abortion have been ineligible because fetal cardiac activity was heard, said Dr. Allison Gilbert, a physician and the medical director there.
“I’ve not told a single patient at this point who has not cried,” she said. “It’s just devastating; there’s really no other word to describe it emotionally. It’s always difficult to tell a patient that you’re unable to provide them the care they need, but now it’s half of patients. As a provider, all you can do is choke back your tears.”
The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on the law on November 1st.
The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Monday, November 1, regarding the constitutionality of the Texas Heartbeat Act, which effectively bans abortions in the state after six weeks gestation when a fetal heartbeat is detected.
In a surprising order last week, the Court granted review – called a writ of certiorari – sought by several abortion clinics, including Whole Women’s Health and various Planned Parenthoods. Although the Supreme Court granted certiorari before judgment several times during the Trump administration, typically multiple years pass without the justices short-circuiting the normal process of appellate review.
And even when the Court does “grant cert” before the relevant appeals court has rendered its judgment, it usually still goes through a normal process of filing briefs and preparing for oral argument, which typically takes more than three months. Here, by contrast, the justices had just granted cert on October 22, ordered all the briefs to be filed within days, and scheduled oral arguments scheduled for the following week – just ten days from granting review to hearing the case.
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