Question

discuss the recent public policy decisions made in Texas with respect to abortion. find at least one Op-Ed on the issue and explain and assess the author argument. Be sure to consider HB1, HB214, and SB8 in your post. what do you think are reason regulation with respect to abortion that the State of Texas should enact or has enacted? why? what are some unreasonable regulation that Texas has enacted? why are they unreasonable?

Answer 1

Discuss the recent public policy decisions made in Texas with respect to abortion

Answer:

There's a bill that would prevent abortions in cases in which parents decide not to have the baby based on its sex, race or disability. Another would ban abortions starting at conception. Still another would allow Texas to outlaw the procedure immediately if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

These measures come at a complicated time for the nation's abortion fight: The 2018 elections in Texas and nationally saw Democrats — and women — pick up seats amid the #MeToo movement and backlash against President Donald Trump. A strong conservative majority on the Supreme Court has fueled deep speculation on the future of Roe v. Wade. And proposed abortion bills in Democratic and Republican state legislatures alike have deepened the national divide over how far people are willing to go to protect or block the procedure.

Op-Ed on the issue

Answer:

The day after the Supreme Court ruled that parts of Texas’s abortion law, known as House Bill 2, was unconstitutional, the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) unveiled a revised version of the “Woman’s Right To Know” booklet — a document that physicians are required by law to give to women seeking an abortion that provides them with accurate information to help inform their decision.

DSHS states on its website that “revisions to the booklet will be guided by peer-reviewed scientific and medical literature, resources from professional medical organizations, and government health sources.”

But rather than ensuring that the information in the booklet is based on the best scientific evidence, DSHS seems to have gone in the other direction.

There are few references to peer-reviewed medical articles in the document, and some of the articles that are referenced are out of date. Many of the statements contradict those of major medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the American Medical Association.

Several of the statements in the “Woman’s Right To Know” booklet seem designed to confuse women, if not outright trick them. Take, for example, the information provided about the risk of death with abortion compared to the risk with continuing a pregnancy to term. Fortunately, dying is very rare after both events. But the best medical evidence—which was quoted in the Supreme Court ruling—indicates that death related to childbirth is at least twelve times more common than abortion-related death.

HB1, HB214, and SB8

Answer:

HB 214 would amend the Insurance Code to prohibit a qualified health plan offered through a health benefit exchange, as administered by the federal government or created under the Affordable Care Act, from providing coverage for an abortion unless the abortion is performed due to a medical emergency.

SB 8 includes a ban on “dismemberment abortion” (non-medical term) unless the procedure is, “necessary in a medical emergency.” The ban targets the dilation and evacuation, known as a D and E, procedure commonly used for second-trimester miscarriages and abortions. The D and E is the safest, most-common second-trimester abortion procedure and would be a crime under SB 8, making second-trimester abortion less accessible for Texas women.

what are some unreasonable regulation that Texas has enacted?

Answer:

Some of the most common state-level abortion restrictions are parental notification or consent requirements for minors, limitations on public funding, mandated counselling designed to dissuade individuals from obtaining an abortion, mandated waiting periods before an abortion, and unnecessary and overly burdensome regulations on abortion facilities.