Page 1: Abortion laws threaten Roe vs. Wade
October 2, 2021
Abortion has been hotly debated for decades, but the conversation has increased in intensity recently, especially after Texas passed its Heartbeat Act.
The Heartbeat Act, which passed on Sept. 1, allows private citizens to sue abortion providers, family members, rape crisis counselors and be awarded $10,000.
“I don’t really agree with the laws because … if someone’s raped in Texas, then how are you going to force them to not get rid of it, a baby that they can’t take care of?” freshman Hayley Brumbelow asked.
In January, the Kansas state senate voted for an abortion bill to be on the August 2022 primary ballot, adding language to the state constitution that doesn’t grant the right to abortion.
In 2019, 25 anti-abortion laws passed primarily in the South and Midwest. As of April 2021, there were 561 abortion restrictions written. Since January, 165 were abortion bans introduced across 47 states and, of those, 83 were enacted across 16 states including 10 bans.
Anti-abortion activists see the Texas bill as a victory and are pushing to move more bills like this in many other states. Abolishing Roe v. Wade is the main idea.
“I am anti-abortion because I personally believe that God brings every life to this planet for a reason,” junior Samantha Eitutis said.
The World Health Organization reported in 2020 that 1 of 3 abortions were done unsafely, and each year 4.7% – 13.2% of maternal deaths were attributed to unsafe abortions.
“It is so stupid. They are killing women and kids because people are either dying from unsafe abortions or birthing these children into bad environments,” junior Emery Wysocki said.
The controversy around these laws doesn’t only come from the bans themselves but also the fear women have of the government controlling their bodies.
“If anything, there should be less laws. There shouldn’t be specific laws for specific people,” sophomore Izzy McCabe said. “I am scared that (abortions) are going to be outlawed because it feels like we’re going to go back in time.”
Not everyone has those same fears, though.
“Say a guy raped a girl, that girl shouldn’t take what the enemy meant for evil and commit another awful action by murdering another human,” Eitutis said. “God will turn that rape story into something beautiful even though Satan originally planned that for evil.”
