By: JADEN EDISON
Anti-abortion advocates acknowledge those issues in their comments after the ruling.
“Now the pro-life movement can expend even greater resources toward providing compassionate alternatives to abortion for women with unplanned pregnancies,” the Texas Alliance for Life said in a statement. “Our goal continues to be to build a society where abortion is unthinkable, and women with unplanned pregnancies take full advantage of the vast resources available to them.”
By: ELEANOR KLIBANOFF
But now, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, clearing the way for Texas to ban abortion in nearly all cases. Domestic violence victims are among the least likely to be able to travel out of state or safely self-manage a medication abortion at home, leaving them no choice but to carry a pregnancy to term.
For advocates and legislators who have spent decades working to ban abortion in Texas, domestic violence does not justify an exception to the rule.
“When a woman is a victim of sexual assault that results in pregnancy, from our point of view, we now have two victims,” said Joe Pojman, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life. “Violence is not a solution to violence, and we consider abortion very much a violent act.”
Pojman argues that abortion perpetuates violence by allowing abusers to cover up evidence of sexual assault and reproductive coercion.
By: ZACH DESPART AND JAMES BARRAGÁN
Joe Pojman, executive director of the anti-abortion group Texas Alliance for Life, said he would also support an increase in funding for the Alternative to Abortions program, which the Legislature funded with $100 million this two-year budget cycle. The program pays a far-flung network of nonprofits — many of them ardently anti-abortion — for counseling, classes on prenatal nutrition and newborn care, and the provision of baby items.
But Pojman says lawmakers need to better promote the program so more pregnant people have access to it.
“For a lot of women who find themselves pregnant, they don’t even know that those exist,” he said.
By: ANDREW ZHANG, PATRICK SVITEK AND ABBY LIVINGSTON
Anti-abortion activists argue that Democrats are the ones out of touch on abortion. They acknowledge the polling on Roe v. Wade does not appear favorable to the GOP but said that’s because most people do not fully understand the landmark case’s impact and what its overturning could mean.
“The poll numbers have been similar to that year after year after year, and in Texas and other states, the pro-life movement keeps advancing,” both in policy and politics, said Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life. He joked that every GOP candidate who his group interviewed for the March primary was “more pro-life than Mother Teresa.”
By: BY ELEANOR KLIBANOFF
Abortion opponents have cheered the decreased access to the procedure in Texas, while lamenting the fact that pregnant patients continue to find ways to terminate their pregnancies.
“We recognize that women in Texas can elect to go out of state for abortions, but it’s our hope that they will choose life and access the amazing programs that we have in our state to provide support and care for them and their child,” said Amy O’Donnell, chief communications officer for Texas Alliance for Life.
The state has invested heavily in the Alternatives to Abortion program, which funnels money to crisis pregnancy centers across the state.
By: ELEANOR KLIBANOFF
A spokesperson for the anti-abortion group Texas Alliance for Life said the organization is looking into ways to pursue legal action against international or out-of-state groups like Aid Access.
“It is concerning to us to see people try to find ways to work around the law,” the spokesperson, Amy O’Donnell, said. “We believe it’s significantly important for girls and women to see a physician in person before obtaining chemical abortion drugs.”
But as abortion access has narrowed in Texas, many providers say they are hearing from patients who feel that accessing this medication outside of the health care system is worth a potential risk.