New Abortion Bill in Texas

In the Dallas Morning News there was an editorial called, “Abortion bill is unwarranted state intrusion on woman’s right to choose”. This article is about a new Texas bill by Senator Dan Patrick of Houston, concerning abortions. Senator Patrick is trying to require women to get a sonogram within two hours of the planned abortion, during which the doctor would have audio of the unborn baby’s heartbeat and would educate the woman on the fetus’ anatomy. In this particular article the author is clearly against this bill, using words like “impose”, “punishing women” and “state-imposed guilt”. The author did a great job of persuading the reader to think this bill is a vicious and heartless idea. The author also gives some facts about other State’s abortion laws and makes it seem like Texas is just going overboard. To the average reader who is on the fence about pro-life/pro-choice issues this article will convince you to think this bill is a bad idea which as a result steers you to the pro-choice side of the argument. For the people who are passionate about their pro-life stance this articles is very frustrating.

I personally would love to see this bill pass. I think it would educate women contemplating abortion. Education is the key to making good decisions. In the United States, about 6 million women become pregnant each year and nearly 1.2 million women have an abortion. This bill would allow woman to hear the heartbeat of her unborn child and educate her on the developmental stage of the unborn baby before she decides to terminate the pregnancy. All of these measures empower women with the information on the fetus before she makes her final decision.

Roe v. Wade is the historic Supreme Court decision making abortion legal in the United States. The Roe v. Wade decision held that a woman, with her doctor, could choose abortion based on the right to privacy. Because abortion is legal in the United States it is only fair that each State has the right to make laws to regulate the amount of abortions performed. If the Nation can declare abortion legal then it is up to each State to mandate the education of women before they make this hard decision.