Texas’s extreme abortion law was enacted a year before the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. The state skirted the previous ruling by making abortion a civil issue rather than a legal one, setting up a bounty system to charge anyone found culpable in abortion penalties upward of $10,000.
After the fall of Roe, abortion remains illegal in Texas at about six weeks, after a so-called fetal heartbeat, which is really just an electric pulse as a six-week-old embryo is only about 6 mm, can be detected.
It’s All About “Life”
The state insists its harsh laws are about protecting life, but most observers know that’s not true. These laws harm women, especially those seeking emergency care when a pregnancy goes wrong.
Texas also showed its hand in a recent court case involving a state worker who suffered a stillbirth due to her supervisor’s negligence.
The Prison Guard Case
A Texas prison guard who was seven months pregnant started experiencing unusual pains after starting her shift. She notified her supervisor, as she couldn’t leave her post until a replacement arrived.
The replacement never came.
She reported that her supervisor thought she was faking to get out of work but finally sent someone two hours later.
The guard was rushed into surgery, but it was too late. She claims that hospital staff told her the baby could have survived if she had gotten there earlier.
Suing Texas
Now, the guard and her husband are suing Texas for wrongful death. However, the state refuses to pay, claiming that the fetus doesn’t have rights.
The Fetus Doesn’t Have Rights
The adamantly pro-life state of Texas claims a fetus doesn’t have rights the second it’s convenient for them to do so. However, the state still gleefully restricts abortion.
A fetus doesn’t have rights when Texas would have to pay, but if a woman claims that her rights to her body outweighs a fetus’s rights, then the fetus magically has rights again.
It’s an appalling game of Schrodinger’s rights, where a fetus is both a living person who deserves equal rights (when a woman’s life is at stake) and a non-entity that doesn’t deserve rights (when the state has to open its wallet).
The Internet Weighs In
Reddit users, outraged at the state’s hypocrisy, weighed in on the controversy.
“I think I just felt a blood vessel in my brain pop at this,” said one user, receiving over a thousand upvotes.
“Isn’t it amazing how they only have rights when it benefits their religious beliefs?” asked another.
“Everyone knows fetuses only have rights when women are trying to assert control over their own bodies,” snarked a third.
Twitter (X) Reactions
Users on the social media network formally known as Twitter also weighed in.
So much for those right to life laws! I guess it only applies when the state is not the one being sued.
— Tonye Tariah-Health (@ttariahhealth) August 12, 2023
Err… doesn’t that contradict Texan abortion law? Does this mean that fetal rights only matter when it suits?
— Lady 🐝 Bee 🐝 Middlemast-Neal #EnoughIsEnough (@Mistyswoman) August 13, 2023
Um ain’t Texas say women can’t get abortions because fetuses have rights now they’re saying fetuses don’t have rights??? Nah y’all can’t turn that off and on. 😑
— 🅱🅻🅰🅲🅺 & 🅿🅴🆃🆃🆈 (@black_and_petty) August 12, 2023
Hypocritical Texas
Texas officials are showing their true colors by supporting this hypocrisy. We hope she wins her case and the world sees the pro-life movement for what it is: a movement to control women.
If it were indeed about the fetus, they’d acknowledge the massive mistake they made this day and pay up without a fuss.
Source: Reddit