Study: Law has reduced abortions in Texas

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Abortion rates dropped for girls ages 15 through 18, even though the 18-year-olds were not subject to the law. But the drop was more pronounced among the younger girls. Their rates fell 11 percent to 20 percent more than the rate among the 18-year-olds did.

"The law has definite behavioral effects," said lead researcher Ted Joyce, a Baruch professor of economics.

And

In the study, girls 17 1/2 or slightly older were one-third more likely to have an abortion in the second trimester than girls already 18 when they became pregnant, indicating many waited until they turned 18 to escape the notification requirement.

Abortion later in pregnancy carries a much higher rate of deadly complications, though the overall risk is still extremely small.

The study "draws attention to the way that these kinds of laws can put teens in a compromised position that puts their health at risk," said Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research group that specializes in reproductive issues.

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In short, this Texas law causes unwanted pregnancies among younger teenagers and maneuvers older teens into potentially life-threatening situations. Sounds like a good law to me. No, wait, I mean the exact opposite: this law is fucking stupid. I understand the pro-life rationale behind this, that parents have a say in every other medical procedure that their children may or may not have, but that's simply a rationale. In no way does this point of view take into account the emotional issues or parent/child power dynamic involved that make parental control of their children's medical decisions problematic as far as abortion is concerned--that is, it's not a very compelling argument they have, and I think they realize it. But that doesn't matter; it worked well enough to get the bill passed. What's really going on with this parental consent law is that it's part of an overall strategy of incrementally chipping away at abortion rights until they exist on paper only--this same strategy also includes terrorism against abortion providers in order to scare them out of business and froth-mouthed protesters ramming bloody fetus pictures in the faces of every individual entering a clinic where abortions are provided. Sadly, this strategy has been, to date, pretty darned successful in some parts of the country. People are worried about the new right wingers on the Supreme Court reversing Roe. The more I think about it the more that seems unlikely; the right wing has just had too much fun bashing the 1973 landmark decision--they've gotten a lot of political mileage out of it. How nice it would be for them if they could have their cake and eat it too, create a de facto situation where abortions are impossible to get, but still legal, and therefore worthy of teeth gnashing.

These anti-abortion people are damned treacherous.

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