A Lone Star State federal judge tried to ban access to the abortion pill mifepristone. The attorney general’s office blocked an order to let patients with pregnancy complications obtain abortions. And various counties targeted interstate travel for Texans with unwanted pregnancies.
But abortion advocacy groups like the Texas Equal Access (TEA) Fund are staying the course by continuing to help community members in need.
One salient local example: On Saturday, Dec. 16, TEA Fund will host its “Infant Care Resource Drive” at the First Unitarian Church of Dallas (4015 Normandy Ave.). Free baby supplies will be available for the snagging. The group notes that the “no-questions-asked” event doesn’t require an application or participation in religious services.
“People in Texas have been abandoned by the government, by the state,” said TEA Fund Deputy Director Maleeha Aziz. “And no one should have to endure trauma or have some sort of ideology shoved down their throat when they're vulnerable and just looking for resources.”
Next Saturday we'll be giving out free baby supplies at our Infant Care Resource Drive in Dallas! Help us spread the word. No applications required. No strings attached. pic.twitter.com/grP3i7ACCP
— Texas Equal Access Fund (@TEAFund) December 5, 2023
TEA Fund will be passing out diapers, wipes, books, toys, clothes, bottles, hygiene items and more, Aziz said. Also on site: a full-spectrum doula and an OB-GYN provider offering contraception education — plus, Santa will be there for fun photos.
Aziz noted her own terrible experience with abortion-rights opponents. A survivor of sexual assault, she’d sought help from a so-called crisis pregnancy center (TEA Fund uses the term “anti-abortion center”). The center’s workers were “highly insensitive” and used religious shaming, said Aziz, who is Muslim.
“There's a lot of religious pressure, counseling, that they do that people don't necessarily want,” she said. “They're not trauma informed and they actually cause more harm to people in a vulnerable situation.”
The upcoming resource drive stems from TEA Fund’s “My Choice: Not a Crisis” campaign, which looks to provide an alternative to anti-abortion centers while unmasking deceptive practices. These institutions frequently mislead abortion-seekers by deploying misinformation and emotional coercion, Aziz said.
TEA Fund will host resource drives on an ongoing basis, she said. People can come and grab whatever supplies they need free from judgment. Reproductive justice isn’t only about abortion, she added: It also means helping folks have the families they choose to have.
Meanwhile, legal battles over abortion rage on. News broke earlier this week that a 31-year-old North Texas woman has filed an emergency lawsuit asking a court to let her end her pregnancy. The patient, Kate Cox, had learned that the fetus was unlikely to survive after birth. An emergency hearing will take place in Travis County on Thursday morning to hear Cox's case.
“It is not a matter of if I will have to say goodbye to my baby, but when,” Cox said in the suit. “I'm trying to do what is best for my baby and myself, but the state of Texas is making us both suffer.”
Not every Texas lawmaker backs anti-abortion efforts, though."This is big, Orwellian government bubbling up at the local level, and we’ve got to shut it down before it takes over." – State Sen. Nathan Johnson
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State Sen. Nathan Johnson told the Observer on Monday, the day before the Legislature’s fourth special session ended, about an abortion-related proposal he’d filed last month. Senate Bill 45 sought to safeguard Texans from “abortion travel bans.” Johnson never thought that the bill would be referred, let alone get a hearing, yet it was important for him to pursue it anyway.
The Dallas Democrat said he doesn’t typically propose legislation as a performative stunt. But, as Gov. Greg Abbott yet again tried (and failed) to force passage of a school voucher law, Johnson figured that he’d make good use of his time during a special session that was “clearly just a political show.”
The way Johnson sees it, a growing number of cities and counties are now taking “menacing unconstitutional actions” with abortion-travel bans. He wanted to call attention to the fact that certain local leaders are effectively telling constituents what they can and cannot intend to do whenever they get into their car.
Abortion travel bans are emblematic of “about the most invasive government” that Johnson can envision.
“This is big, Orwellian government bubbling up at the local level, and we’ve got to shut it down before it takes over,” he said. “This is not tolerable.”
Although Johnson doesn’t think that SB 45-like legislation will necessarily take off, such bills could still gain some support, even among limited-government Republicans. He’s tired of anti-abortion advocates getting mileage out of deriding reproductive rights, especially in this type of “frightening way.”
Right-wing zealotry is chipping away at the constitutional foundations of both Texas and the nation, he said. Questions remain about how and whether these travel-restriction laws can even be enforced.
Johnson has legitimate worries about what such bans signal for democracy at large.
“My message to conservatives is: Be careful what you wish for,” he said. “You are now tolerating extraordinary action by local governments. And you may not like the next iteration.”
