AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Samantha Sorsby-Jones watched her Texas high school friends go to great lengths to get birth control: secretly arranging trips to clinics that didn’t require parental consent and hiding the phones in the bushes in case parents tracked them.
Starting Tuesday, access to reproductive health care is likely to face fresh scrutiny before the Republican-controlled Texas Capitol, where new restrictions are on the table in the first session since a strict statewide abortion ban.
Texas’ abortion ban is one of the strictest in the country, with no exceptions for rape or incest, and Republican leaders have not pledged to add restrictions in the next five months. Across the country, reproductive rights are poised to remain a dominant issue in other U.S. palaces, where a patchwork of policies has spread. across the country after the fall of Roe v. Wade.
“The right to bodily autonomy is being taken away in so many different ways, it’s really devastating,” said Sorsby-Jones, 20, who as a high school student three years ago was able to get birth control in a federally funded clinic. Texas after her parents refused to help her.
But a December ruling by a federal judge in Amarillo has suddenly closed that avenue to other Texas teenagers. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that allowing minors to get free birth control without parental consent at federally funded clinics under a program known as Title X violated the rights of parents and state law.
These clinics offer a variety of family planning services and served more than 182,000 people in 2020 in Texas, according to Every Body Texas, which administers the funds for the state. A bill introduced by a Democrat in response to Kacsmaryk’s ruling could face resistance from Republicans, who have controlled the Texas Legislature for two decades and completed their majority in the fall midterms.
For Republicans, the new proposals include penalizing companies that help their Texas employees seek abortions elsewhere, limiting access to mail-order abortion drugs and dispensing emergency contraceptives. Anti-abortion groups are also pushing lawmakers in the wake of Texas’ abortion ban to spend more money on services for pregnant Texans and parents, including expanding Medicaid coverage for mothers.
John Seago, president of the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, said he doesn’t see enough GOP support to create exceptions to the state’s abortion ban. “If we don’t respond to it this session, it becomes the status quo,” Seago said.
After getting help from a Title X clinic, Sorsby-Jones said she spent years helping other teens find the resources to make independent decisions about reproductive health. In high school, he said, some of his classmates had to hide their phones in the bushes at a nearby fast food restaurant or leave them at school because of parental geolocation apps.
When she volunteered with a nonprofit that helps teens access reproductive health resources, Sorsby-Jones said clients included minors in abusive homes and those who faced cultural barriers to seeking permission of parents for birth control. While the primary focus was contraceptive care, Sorsby-Jones said for many teens, it was about access to medication without stigma for conditions like endometriosis, which caused them to lose their school due to severe abdominal pain.
Rosann Mariappuram, executive director of Jane’s Due Process, said her organization’s hotline immediately began receiving calls and texts with questions from Texas teenagers after the December court decision. “When this ruling came down, it basically cut off the reproductive rights of Texas teenagers overnight,” Mariappuram said.
At least 13 states have also banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with several exceptions, with many poised to discuss ways to limit or expand access as legislatures return to session across the country. Several existing bans, as well as others that are less restrictive, are being challenged in court.
State Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos, a Democrat from the border city of Laredo, introduced the proposal that would fight the Title X ruling. She herself received Title X contraceptive care after having a child as a teenager.
“What this bill does is empower teenagers to make decisions for their own health care, but also for their future,” Ramos said.
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