Weighing the Options When Even Abortion Pills Are Illegal in Texas | HoustonPress

Visit Website

By: FAITH BUGENHAGEN

Although these pills have been FDA-regulated since the early 2000s and are declared safe to use, anti-abortion leaders would like to see even this method of abortion stopped.

Amy O’Donnell, a public policy team member of Texas Alliance for Life, supported legislation that placed restrictions on the access and usage of abortion pills. According to her, this medication could pose significant health complications. “I would imagine that the more women become aware of the risks the more we will see those numbers drop,” O’Donnell said.

After these restrictions were passed which included banning use of abortion pills seven months into pregnancy, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists stated that the measures taken by the Legislature stemmed from scientifically unsupported claims.

For Texas women who want abortions, unless they can get mail order pills delivered to them undetected at their homes, travel is their only option.

Several abortion bills pre-filed in Texas | SPECTRUM NEWS

Visit Website

By: CHARLOTTE SCOTT

As written, the bill would not require a pregnant person to file a police report or provide forensic evidence. Alvarado said it’s because many women don’t report abuse in the first place. But since no record would be required to obtain an abortion, anti-abortion advocates see this as a way to create a loophole so any woman could have the procedure.

“Women could claim rape or assault or incest where, in fact, that has not happened. And it creates a potential loophole in an exception that we don’t support that would allow women to lie to receive abortions. We would hope that no woman would do that, but it does leave that door open,” said Amy O’Donnell, the director of communications for Texas Alliance for Life.

Seth Chandler, a law professor at the University of Houston, said this is where the legal waters get murky.

nti-abortion advocates don’t want to see a sexual assault exemption added to the abortion law.

“We believe that it’s wrong to discriminate against anyone based on how they came into being. And even with that beginning story, that child is still deserving of life, and so we will not support that,” O’Donnell said.

Even though most abortions are illegal in Texas, Hagstrom Miller stressed that there’s still a big need for it.

“Just because you ban abortion, it doesn’t change the need for abortion,” she said. “An abortion ban doesn’t prevent people from still needing abortions in the state of Texas. It just prevents people from getting that care from trained medical professionals. And I think that’s what we have to remember as we try to assist people in our communities that really need access to the safe, essential medical care that is abortion.”

Some Republicans have said there might need to be an exception to the abortion law for sexual assault, but it’s unlikely that abortion will become legal again next year.

Illegal ‘Pill Fairies’ Aiding At-Home Abortions as Safety Concerns Rise | THE EPOCH TIMES

Visit Website

By: Janice Hisle

Sometimes the drugs are sent through the mail, concealed in non-medical packaging; they also may be delivered in person with the help of volunteers who live in the United States.

Amy O’Donnell, Texas Alliance for Life spokeswoman, told The Epoch Times: “That’s a horrible name that they’re using, to bring these drugs into our state illegally that can harm women or even take their lives— and there’s nothing ‘magical’ about that. It’s an atrocity.”

O’Donnell’s group and others have been urging federal action recently, following news media reports highlighting the abortion-pill networks.

In a strongly worded Oct. 25 letter to Congress, Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, wrote: “In January, the Pro-Life Generation expects the House and Senate to take on this issue with the seriousness it deserves, rather than settling for show votes on easily agreed-upon legislation that does not significantly reduce the number of abortions or protect women from a predatory abortion industry.”