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Despite enacting some of the severest abortion restrictions in the country, instead of curtailing abortions, Texas has sent more women the way of attempting to abort their pregnancies using their own methods. According to a study by the University of Texas estimates that over 100,000 women have attempted to self-abort their pregnancies.
I wonder how many of those women actively, properly, and responsibly used a birth control method (or more), regularly. Actually, on that note, I wonder how many schools (since this is Texas) didn't even teach about birth control because TX loves that abstinence only education.
Actually, the law in Texas states that abstinence must be emphasized but that medically accurate contraceptive methods must be taught. That being said, when I was in school in Texas back in the Dark Ages, sex education didn't include contraception, but somehow I not only managed to be aware of various methods, including the pill, but to have access to them. This was in the mid-sixties.
However, the article points out that the problem is that not only does the law make it very difficult for low income women and girls to get access to abortion (average distance to an abortion facility is 111 miles now) but the facilities that closed are the same ones at which they were getting contraceptive advice and methods which made it LESS likely that they would need an abortion. Plus other women's health care, women's bodies not consisting entirely of a uterus.
You do realize, JerseyGirl415, don't you, that the entirety of your comment is just as judgmental of not only Texas, but women's sexuality, as any Texas Republican I've ever heard? Trust me, I live here, I can recognize the attitude a mile away.
Despite enacting some of the severest abortion restrictions in the country, instead of curtailing abortions, Texas has sent more women the way of attempting to abort their pregnancies using their own methods. According to a study by the University of Texas estimates that over 100,000 women have attempted to self-abort their pregnancies.
Two things wrong here. 1) UT "estimates" that 100K have tried this and 2) There's no long term study in TX that studies how many women tried self abortion over say the past decade as compared to today.
Two things wrong here. 1) UT "estimates" that 100K have tried this and 2) There's no long term study in TX that studies how many women tried self abortion over say the past decade as compared to today.
Actually, the law in Texas states that abstinence must be emphasized but that medically accurate contraceptive methods must be taught. That being said, when I was in school in Texas back in the Dark Ages, sex education didn't include contraception, but somehow I not only managed to be aware of various methods, including the pill, but to have access to them. This was in the mid-sixties.
However, the article points out that the problem is that not only does the law make it very difficult for low income women and girls to get access to abortion (average distance to an abortion facility is 111 miles now) but the facilities that closed are the same ones at which they were getting contraceptive advice and methods which made it LESS likely that they would need an abortion. Plus other women's health care, women's bodies not consisting entirely of a uterus.
You do realize, JerseyGirl415, don't you, that the entirety of your comment is just as judgmental of not only Texas, but women's sexuality, as any Texas Republican I've ever heard? Trust me, I live here, I can recognize the attitude a mile away.
I don't really care how judgmental it is if it's true.
81% of Texas sexually active teens used any form of contraception at the last time they had sex. Sounds decent, and it is, but compared to other states (like Montana, the highest at 92), it's the lowest out of 34 states which shared the information and have applicable info. Yet again lower (in this case not a good lower) than rhe national average. https://thenationalcampaign.org/data/compare/3112
I'm not making this up. I could not care less how judgmental you think I'm being. My point is not to be judgmental. It's to look at cause and effect. Perhaps your state should change in this regard. IMO abstinence should not be stressed because it's unrealistic. Teen pregnancy rates prove this. So do the numbers of kids who report having sex at least once or regularly, as the link with teen pregnancy rates also shows on another page. Fact is, 100%, not even 90 or 80 or even 70 or 60 in some states, of kids are NOT practicing abstinence like TX strongly suggests and recommends above all else (it's the "expected standard" https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/abstain/), so it's irrelevant. Abstinence should be taught as an option, sure, especially seeing as it's the only 100% guaranteed way to protect against everything, but birth control methods are what should be emphasized IMO because teens are going to have sex. They just are. IMO the majority of TX is doing it wrong. I think access to and education regarding birth control has a direct effect on abortion rate, personally. It's no secret the Southern states are the worst culprits when it comes to this education and teen pregnancy rate stuff. It's the more conservative and religious ideology. It is what it is.
Two things wrong here. 1) UT "estimates" that 100K have tried this and 2) There's no long term study in TX that studies how many women tried self abortion over say the past decade as compared to today.
Call it an agenda piece if you want, but the simple fact is no matter how difficult you make it for a woman to get an abortion she will still find a way. I was in High School in the 60's when abortion was illegal and girls got them anyway, probably 20% of the girls in my graduating class had at least one abortion. The middle class and wealthy girls just went off for a simple "procedure" in the Doctor's Office and returned to school a few days later magically un-pregnant; the doctor recorded the event as a "dilation and curettage" a fairly common procedure for various gynecological conditions. The poor girls were the ones who paid the price; some found a doctor who had lost his license, others had their boyfriends kick them in the stomach, drank a whole bottle of castor oil, or even worse tried to abort the fetus with a coat hanger.
Two things wrong here. 1) UT "estimates" that 100K have tried this and 2) There's no long term study in TX that studies how many women tried self abortion over say the past decade as compared to today.
Call it an agenda piece if you want, but the simple fact is no matter how difficult you make it for a woman to get an abortion she will still find a way. I was in High School in the 60's when abortion was illegal and girls got them anyway, probably 20% of the girls in my graduating class had at least one abortion. The middle class and wealthy girls just went off for a simple "procedure" in the Doctor's Office and returned to school a few days later magically un-pregnant; the doctor recorded the event as a "dilation and curettage" a fairly common procedure for various gynecological conditions. The poor girls were the ones who paid the price; some found a doctor who had lost his license, others had their boyfriends kick them in the stomach, drank a whole bottle of castor oil, or even worse tried to abort the fetus with a coat hanger.
I was in high school and college in the 60's as well and knowledge of how to get an illegal one (usually involved traveling to Mexico or some back alley doctor) was not hard to come by. As was knowledge of the consequences.
Interestingly, in my daughter's generation (now in their 30's) I know of quite a few young women who became pregnant and chose to keep the baby. Part of that was changing societal viewpoints on unwed pregnancy and single mothers, of course.
A team from UT interviewed an unspecified number of women and asked them if they or their best friend had attempted to induce an abortion at home anytime within the past five years. This would include use of the "morning after" pill, and a time frame that includes a time period when many more clinics providing abortions were open across the state of Texas, as well as "do it yourself" meds given to the women BY clinics providing abortions or the morning after pill or early pregnancy abortifacient drugs that are designed to be taken at home rather than in a clinical setting.
For instance, one interview (of the 18 listed in this report) outlined the use of Misoprostol by a 24 year old woman. The implication is that if she had had better access to a clinic providing an abortion, this drug wouldn't have been prescribed to her. Actually, it is a commonly prescribed drug used, among other things, to induce early abortions.
Several women who were interviewed tried to take herbs or vitamins to induce abortions. When these methods were unsuccessful, they obtained surgical abortions safely.
Sorry, but I'm underwhelmed by the accuracy of this "report."
Oh and by the way, if you look at teen pregnancies by ETHNICITY, Hispanic teens have the highest rate of teen pregnancy. Texas is tied with California for the highest percentage of Hispanics in the general population, so this definitely impacts the Texas teen pregnancy rate. And Texas is not ranked #1 in teen pregnancy rates by the way, though it does have a high ranking (due, as I said, largely to it's huge Hispanic population with it's high teen pregnancy rate). By the way, other minorities also have high teen pregnancy rates, and Texas is one of only four states in the US that is majority/minority meaning that white, Non Hispanics make up less than 50 percent of the population.
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