Women now have a bounty on their head. On the first day of September of 2021, Senate Bill 8 was passed as law in Texas. The bill states that any private citizen can sue anyone in the state who performs an abortion after 6 weeks一 or anyone, including those out of the state, who aid or intend on aiding an abortion procedure after six weeks in Texas. This restriction is yet another one added onto the list of aleast 90 new abortion restrictions this year alone.

This new law has sparked copycat laws in other states. States like Florida, Arkansas, and South Dakota are looking into mimicking the language in the Texas bill and incorporating it into their restrictions. This inches closer into completely violating constitutional rights, especially if the language seen in the Texas bill pours into other private aspects. Republicans continue to go against the number one idea that their party is founded on, small government. If they really cared for the country and their party, the GOP would realize that these types of laws only increase the power the government has over it’s private citizens. If you consider yourself a republican, ask yourself this: when the government starts to overpower the rights of women, why is this not deemed as wrong, in the same way restrictions on arms are deemed?

Mexico, one of the largest Catholic countries, has decriminalized abortion. This is huge considering the heavy religious influence, something that the US must follow the lead of. What ever happened to separation of church and state? Most of the restrictions passed are based on the government and the Christian influence found in the United States. If looked into, one can see how religion has impacted the ruling made by government leaders, which shouldn’t be the case.

The bible, used by many politicians to support their views, holds much ambiguity in its verses. Let’s take a look at Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living thing.” This verse alone holds many interruptions which can be seen by the endless discourse online, from articles to reddit threads. Some say that it refers to life in general while others say that it only refers to Adam and should not be taken literally. The various interpretations of solely one verse demonstrates that even people who believe in the same religion don’t always agree. Where some believers may agree, others may not. So if the whole religion does not collectively believe then why would it be a determining factor in passing laws? Why is religion even playing a role if not everyone believes in the same thing? 

You have Democratic Senator Katrina Jackson, who introduced the Louisiana clinic shutdown law, saying, “My goal in this office was to do the will of God. This is one of those issues where I’m standing with God.” Or you have Republican State Respresnetive Holly Rehder saying, “‘To stand on this floor and say, ‘How can someone look at a child of rape or incest and care for them?’ I can say how we can do that. We can do that with the love of God,’” when speaking on her support for the Missouri abortion ban. How can we trust the leaders of this country to judge rightfully if they, both Democrats and Republicans, all possess some type of bias on decisions regarding women. Women are receiving the short end of the stick.

Women are being put in danger constantly because of restrictions like the new Texas law. Before Roe v Wade, as a result of  limited access to safe abortions, women performed dangerous procedures leading to thousands of women dying annually. In 1930, this was the leading cause of death in 2,700 women. Because of the domino effect that comes with implementing new anti-abortion laws, the overturning of Roe v Wade is not a far fetched idea, meaning this might be reality again for many. 

Countries, like those in Latin America, have made abortion parctically unsafe. And just like pre-Roe v Wade, 8% of global maternal deaths are because of the consequences of unsafe abortions. Even if a woman does survive the complications that come from unsafe abortions, 40% are left untreated. All of this could have been prevented by allowing women to have access to safe abortions. The question remains, why does the United States not care about the health of the women in this country? Why put them in danger for a political and/or religious agenda? Why are we not protecting the women of this country?