Texas women who are seeking an abortion are reportedly traveling to Maine to undergo the procedure. This comes as a result of the state’s ‘heartbeat’ law that banned abortions after fetal heartbeat detection.
The Texas law, S.B. 8, took effect Sept. 1. Fetal heartbeat occurs at approximately six weeks gestation, before many women know they are pregnant. As I covered Wednesday, Texas abortion provider Whole Woman’s Health told the Texas Tribune that they have been operating at 20 percent to 30 percent of their service levels compared to prior Sept. 1.
According to a report by Portland-based outlet WGME, a spokesperson at abortion behemoth Planned Parenthood said that women now are crossing state lines and traveling hundreds of miles north to undergo an abortion.
Nicole Clegg, who works in public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, told the outlet that “people should be able to access the care that they need in their communities” and that they’ve seen an uptick in out-of-state patients seeking an abortion.
“What it shows us is that even a state as far away as Texas, it just can have broad implications for the rest of the country,” Clegg said in the interview. “We’re happy to provide that care, but we’re also really sad that they have to travel so far.”
WGME’s report states that “back in 2019, Maine became the second state to allow nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse midwives to provide abortion services.”
In most states, only physicians can provide abortion services.
In addition to outlawing abortion after fetal heartbeat detection, S.B. 8 allows private citizens to pursue legal action against anyone who provides an illegal abortion or aids or abets a woman seeking an illegal abortion. Those who successfully bring lawsuits under S.B. 8 can receive $10,000.
On Nov. 1, oral arguments for two cases surrounding S.B. 8 were heard at the Supreme Court, Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson and United States v. Texas. The latter is the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Texas over S.B. 8, which came after President Biden promised a “whole-of-government’ approach to fight it.
On Dec. 1, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which surrounds the constitutionality of law that implemented a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi. Unlike Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson and United States v. Texas, Dobbs could overturn the precedents set by landmark abortion cases Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which took place in 1973 and 1992, respectively.
“Maine also has a law in the books, as part of the Reproductive Privacy Act, to ensure abortion will be safe and legal even if Roe v. Wade is overturned,” WGME’s report states.
As I covered, House Democrats are currently working to push the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would “codify” Roe into federal law, undermining legislation passed at the state level to curb abortion access.
Since S.B. 8 took effect, states like Ohio, South Dakota, and South Carolina have made efforts to enact similar legislation to protect the unborn.