TEXAS DID THIS

Greetings. I am a voting constituent in rural west Texas. You know what brave looks like? Texas women confronting our state’s leadership with the wrong they have allowed to happen. By taking away free-will decisions over their own bodies lawmakers have caused traumatic harm to them, and the babies they were hoping to welcome into the world. Because of Texas’ abortion ban, and the ill-advised, vague, layman’s language within it, their dreams were turned into nightmares. Being forced to carry fetuses with no hope of survival. Forced to give birth only to then be forced to watch their babies die a lingering, painful, avoidable death. A kind of death that could have, would have, been avoided if women could make their own decisions and doctors could do their jobs. Pregnancy is dangerous. It is not always the idyllic fantasy portrayed. It can also manifest in severe consequences for both mother and child. And when politicians take away healthcare options because of personal beliefs, you see what we get. Misery. Trauma. Grief that will never go away. Near death experiences. Death. Much of which could be avoided if the lawmakers who took away women’s rights could be bothered to clarify language in their sloppy lawmaking. (Or better yet, stay out of the decision-making process completely.) So what are we left with? Politicians blaming doctors. Doctors who are forced to listen to lawyers to determine patient care. Lawyers who are looking at the language as written to determine legal advice. Medical institutions who are listening to these lawyers in determining the path forward, because they are, after all, businesses who rely on not getting sued. Profits over patients. Patients are the losers. And women like those suing Texas are forced to be the ones to try and fix the flawed system you created. Now, after politicians who wrote unclear laws have washed their hands of the mess they made, we have to wait for the courts to attempt to clarify exactly who, what, where, when a doctor can provide medical care to a pregnant person. In the meantime, women will keep dying. Will keep being irreparably traumatized. Babies will die. Mothers will watch. And you and yours will keep singing the praises of saving the unborn. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.