I woke up Thursday morning in horror — not only did Texas ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, but the Supreme Court of the United States was doing absolutely nothing to stop them.
In an unsigned opinion released after midnight, the court said that the abortion providers did not properly address “complex and novel antecedent procedural questions” in their case. The vote was 5-4, with three Trump-appointed justices joining two other conservative justices.
I knew not to put my hopes in the U.S. Supreme Court, especially since these days politics doesn’t seem to be taking precedent into consideration, but nonetheless, the pain of knowing what a six-week abortion ban means for Texas and the nation is immediate and devastating.
Let’s be clear: This new Texas laws bans abortion as early as six weeks and allows anyone to sue a person or organization that provides abortion care or helps someone obtain an abortion after six weeks in Texas. The law makes no exceptions for rape or incest.
It is disgusting and offensive. Most people do not even know they are pregnant at six weeks, and Texas already had in the books some of the most egregious abortion restrictions to begin with.
Now, there is a $10,000 bounty established on the heads of anyone who dares help someone seek an abortion in Texas beyond six weeks. This can include an Uber driver, a friend, or even a parent.
While this bill is extreme, it’s part of a national agenda to end access to abortion in this country. This is already the worst year for state legislature attacks on abortion since Roe v. Wade. We’ve seen similar bills filed in the Florida Legislature already, and no doubt my anti-reproductive health colleagues have been emboldened by what they see both in Texas and from the Supreme Court.
To make matters even more dire, the U.S. Supreme Court has already agreed to consider a major rollback of abortion rights via a challenge to a Mississippi law that bans abortion at 15 weeks.
We are preparing for a major legislative fight this session and the irony of anti-masking lawmakers screaming “My Body, My Choice” while they work to ban abortion is not to be ignored.
At this point, we’ve already seen Gov. Ron DeSantis, Senate President Wilton Simpson, and Speaker of the House Chris Sprowls all say they are actively exploring bringing this Texas abortion ban to Florida this coming session. Even more offensive, when asked by a reporter to confirm the rumors, Senate President Wilton Simpson sent a sunglass smiley-face emoji to confirm that yes, he wants to ban abortion in Florida. The arrogance alone is appalling enough.
But here’s what we need to remember. Abortion will continue to be available for people of means. It is those who already have so little who are most directly impacted by these draconian laws. Many Black, Latino and Indigenous people, those with low incomes, and people in rural areas already struggle to access reproductive care — laws like this only make it worse.
I speak from personal experience. Before I ran for public office I served as the senior director of public affairs and communications at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida and before that I was a Planned Parenthood patient.
I will never forget the trauma that our patients faced when Florida implemented the 24-hour mandatory delay law in 2015. I rushed to our Kissimmee health center when the law was unexpectedly enforced, calming families who drove hours for a medical procedure they would no longer be able to access. Confused, some tried to offer me money to access the procedure, and I had to stress that this had nothing to do with us as providers and everything to do with Tallahassee arrogance and partisanship. This Florida law, by the way, is still being litigated in court.
So what do we do now? I am a cautious optimist and remain focused on supporting directly impacted people: those in Texas who will struggle to secure bodily autonomy and those in Florida who are at risk of the same. Consider contributing to your local abortion fund — private nonprofit organizations that support individuals in accessing an abortion, not just in the cost of the procedure itself, but also in meeting transportation and lodging needs.
This is also the time to call your members of Congress and your local state representatives. The right to abortion as guaranteed in the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade has never been realized for all and is not codified in law. Not only should we push Congress to take action in protecting abortion access by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act but let us urge members of the Florida Legislature to keep their hands off my body, and to oppose abortion bans.
Anna V. Eskamani represents District 47 in the Florida House of Representatives.
