I was asked to write the below for the benefit of volunteers at the Birthright-Humble location. Questions were raised at a meeting in which confusion reigned in the context of all the acrimony and hate-mongering rhetoric they are hearing. Birthright volunteers provide help to women in need of resources in order to have a healthy baby. They do not provide opinions on abortion, legislation, laws, political views, etc. But, they want to understand what women are experiencing and be better prepared to help.
The Texas “Fetal Heartbeat” Law
Before we can discuss the implications of this law, which took effect on September 1, 2021, we must spend a little time reviewing the law and current events. I will be relatively brief, as I presume the reader has a basic familiarity with the circumstances.
Basically, the law states that it is unlawful to perform an abortion (take the life of a developing baby) if the fetal heartbeat is detected while performing an ultrasound prior to the abortion, a procedure which is required by Texas state law. A fetal heartbeat is detected about 6 weeks (from the first day of the mother’s last menstrual cycle) by transvaginal ultrasound and at about 8 weeks by trans-abdominal ultrasound. Women have an abdominal ultrasound to satisfy the law before having an abortion.
So, if the heartbeat is heard at 8 weeks, that means that the fetal heart has been beating for 2 weeks already. At 6 weeks, astonishingly, the developing baby is only the size of a lentil seed, no bigger than 1/4” in size. But, this is very much a live human being, very small, still in development to be sure, but a baby nonetheless, and we all started this way.
The penalty is specified by law and extends to the physician, anyone helping the physician, and anyone aiding and abetting the abortion, such as by encouraging the abortion or by paying for it. Enforcement of the law is by lawsuit brought by private citizens against the accused. The State of Texas is specifically forbidden by the law from enforcing the law. Now, that does sound strange. However, those framing the law looked at situations in which laws in other states were attacked by pro-abortion groups who sued to have courts order those states not to enforce that law.
Many such laws are under injunction by federal district courts that are confused by precedent cases in the Supreme Court and the issue that the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution says that the individual states can pass laws concerning anything not specifically reserved by the constitution to the authority of the US Congress. The subject of abortion is, of course, not mentioned in the constitution. That subject leads into much discussion about the Roe v. Wade decision by the majority of the Supreme Court in 1973. But, I will leave that, for now, to the comments made by the dissenting justices in that case.
Returning to the subject at hand, Texas lawmakers designed the law so that a court could not restrain the state from enforcing the law, because the state is forbidden by the law itself from enforcing the law.
Pro-abortion factions immediately sued the State of Texas anyway (along with an individual who, it was claimed, would seek out doctors to sue in order to enforce the law). The matter immediately reached the Supreme Court where a ruling 5 to 4 dismissed the case on the basis that there was no evidence that those bringing the lawsuit had been harmed by the law or that the private individual named had sued under the law or intended to sue anyone under the law.
Furthermore, the majority of the Court said that it could not order the State of Texas to refrain from enforcing the law, because the law itself already forbids the State of Texas from enforcing the law. The pro-abortion factions anticipated that the lawsuit would go nowhere, but they had to file the lawsuit in order to uphold appearances for the sake of their political supporters. In that manner, they could blame the Supreme Court Justices and not the changing attitude of the people toward unregulated abortion and the wanton taking of human life (as represented by so many laws passed in various states).
However, given the logical findings of the majority of justices, it is disturbing that 4 justices wanted to find some way to keep the law from being implemented by preventing private citizens from filing civil lawsuits. Such a ruling would seem to violate several amendments to the US Constitution. If they had prevailed, what would protect the rights of the people from the Supreme Court itself?
(Those people reading the posts on my web site in recent weeks know all of this.)
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The anger, hatred, threats, and acrimony started before the Texas law was even passed. One may find it difficult to understand such harsh rhetoric. Why is there such a lust for abortion? Well, there is a long history here, so I refer you to my book “Building a Culture of Life” (soon to be published). The bottom line is that it is all about money, power, and control. The female leadership in the pro-abortion factions (and the thousands of affluent women seen in demonstrations) have no interest at all in having an abortion. But, it is a big business with a lot of money involved, and there is a lot of political power at stake.
Money has power. Planned Parenthood donates tens of millions of dollars annually to elect politicians who will protect their business. The politicians do so in order to continue to get the money to secure their power base. Any threat to “abortion on demand” is a threat to the financial position of the abortion industry and the political power supported by it.
Part of the strategy of the pro-abortion faction has been the rhetoric that pro-life people disregard “the right of women to chose” to have an abortion. From there it gets uglier and uglier, with statements such as “pro-life people hate women and want them to die”….and fear mongering about “back alley” abortions…etc.
All of this is in order to demonize and portray political entities that oppose abortion as a first choice, and oppose the use of taxpayer money to encourage and support abortion, as horrible people who hate women. Therefore, they say, such pro-life people must be voted out of office. At the same time, they would not lift a finger to help a pregnant woman, distressed and hopeless, to obtain the resources she needs (and wants) in order to have a healthy baby.
We all saw the way President Trump’s nominees to the Supreme Court were demonized and harassed during confirmation hearings. This was largely because of their reputations as judges who supported respect for life and individual dignity. Bret Kavanaugh wrote the decision of the Court in the lawsuit against Texas. Subsequently, vicious things have been said about him, although he was only one of the five justices voting for the defendant (Texas). He has been personally threatened, and a demonstration was organized outside his home. News sources have commented that this appears to be an effort to intimidate him, and the Supreme Court in general, in order to get more favorable rulings on future cases. Likewise, there have been vicious verbal attacks on those high in the government of Texas, and that has also been extended to prominent leadership in Texas pro-life movements.
The issue is that surgical abortions have been declining since 1980, and there are now 3 pregnancy resource centers for every 1 abortion clinic. More pro-life organizations are active than ever before. More men and women than ever before are advocating restrictions on abortion. Science has revealed that life begins at conception. The tiny life will grow to be a baby, a child, and an adult. Pictures of these tiny human beings in the womb have moved many hearts away from the wanton taking of life. More female pro-life politicians were elected to Congress this last election cycle than ever before.
One observes that any threat to control of money and the associated power over others will not be relinquished without a fight, and we have already seen much of the fear and anger associated with this fight expressed with such hostility, acrimony, and bitterness, that it is at times shocking. However, we can also be encouraged by such outrageous and nonsensical uttering of mindless rhetoric. If pro-abortion factions were secure in their position, the pro-life movement would be dismissed as irrelevant. However, voters in the United States are increasingly pro-life and uncomfortable with the concept of unrestricted and unregulated abortion.
Therefore, the message to pro-life advocates is…stay the course. Those who work with pregnant women in distress from all kinds of messy life situations, often without any support from the father or from family, or even under pressure to have an abortion, need reassurance, real material options, emotional support, and prayer.
Those not directly involved with helping such women are often the men who stand behind the women who do. Others are men and women working in groups organized in many ways to provide support for those providing direct care and resources to help pregnant women and to follow through with help caring for their babies.
All of these pro-life people have one thing in common: they believe that every life should be respected in all of its stages and conditions from conception until natural death, and that every individual should be treated with dignity and respect. That includes the unborn, the most vulnerable, the tiniest and weakest, those who cannot help themselves.
So, when those who advocate for abortion rant and rave and spout their hate and fear mongering and threaten those who respect life, we who protect life and dignity should stand tall, and be proud. They are upset because we are doing the right thing, out of love.