There are lots of horrible things about Texas’s anti-abortion law (SB 8).
And there are still more horrible things in the disingenuous ways that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States have responded to efforts to adjudicate on its constitutionality. I am not going to get into all of that.
I am not even going to get into what it does to abortion access.
I am simply going to point to smaller impact that SB 8 will have on millions of women as they live their lives. Not the pregnant ones. Not the ones who know they are pregnant, but on all the *other* women.
As a man, let me tell you that women’s menstrual cycles vary. Some women have longer cycles and some of them have shorter cycles. Some women’s cycles run like clockwork, and some women’s cycles vary. And, as best I can tell, every woman knows this. So, the idea that a woman’s period is “late” is not really a binary. It’s not like being late for a 10am meeting. It might just be a longer cycle that month.
So, how late does it have to be to be, you know, *late*? How late does it have to be to really wonder? How late does it have to be worth getting a pregnancy test?
Now, some women pay *very* close attention to their cycle, and some women do not. Obviously, that is their right. I mean, there are plenty of things that I should pay attention to because I really should do something on a regular basis, but I kinda wing it. I kinda pay attention, and I notice eventually — usually pretty soon — but I do not spend a lot of time worrying about it.
SB 8 tells women that they cannot take have that kind of attitude about their reproductive systems.
The so-called six-week threshold is not really six weeks of pregnancy. The law defines the start date NOT as the moment of conception, but rather as the last day of the woman’s last period. But conception actually occurs days — weeks, really — later. This means that a woman cannot wait to miss a second period. It means that a woman with a longer cycle (or who sometimes has a longer cycle) must be very vigilant about being late. Must notice. Must get a test.
Because, if she MIGHT want to get an abortion, she is going to need time to find a day she can take the time (from work? from child care?), find an available appointment, put together the cash and maybe even find a friend to be on call (maybe to take her home? maybe in case her body responds poorly? maybe in case she just needs to feel supported). If she has an appropriate partner or spouse, they need schedule around their availability, too.
That’s not a six week window in which to schedule. That’s not a four week window. That might not even be a three week window. Two weeks? One week?
What does this mean? This means that women of reproductive age (14-55?) must be ever vigilant about their reproductive systems. Must never forget to be fucking ON IT. Otherwise, they might run out of time. That window can easily get so small that women with more average cycles need to be one it, too. All women need to be on it.
And if they and some friend so much as discuss a willingness to lie about the date of the end of their last period? If they as much as discuss taking her to airport to get to an abortion services provider? They are all subject to these law suits, their $10,000 fines (plus attorney costs), I think.
So, SB 8 forces all of these millions of women of reproductive age to be as obsessed with their reproductive systems as these crazies (who do not understand the difference between religion and science, who do not understand even what “cell differentiation” means) are obsessed with these women’s reproductive systems.
Furthermore, SB 8 entices everyone else to pay very close attention to the women’s reproductive status, because the most interesting ones — the one worth $10,000 — are the one who are just newly and almost undetectably pregnant and maybe haven’t even noticed yet themselves. The most interesting thing about these women becomes — for far far far far far far far too many people — is now whether or not they are pregnant.
Putting hyperbole aside — and I have tried to write this whole post without hyperbole — SB 8 imposes on all women a new value system that for themselves and for those around them, their current reproductive status is the most important thing about them.
Not their children. Not their marriages. Not their careers. Not their relationships. Not their good works. Not their faith. Not their own values. Not their experience, character, abilities, contributions, dysfunctions, mistakes, victories, appearance, intelligence, stories, taste, accomplishments, disappointments, hair, vocabulary, favorite movie, that thing she does, sense of humor, style, obsessions, political leanings, influence, or the way she makes people feel.
None of that.
The most important thing about any women — or girl — of reproductive age in Texas is her reproductive status. That is the impact of this law, right now. I guess that's *not* a small change, now is it?
Under his eye.