A failed Texas bill would have allowed the death penalty for women who have abortions and the doctors who perform them. It’s not the first time Republicans have proposed killing women in the name of “pro-life” politics. A bill targeting Ohio abortion clinics also proposed killing women who have abortions. Mainstream anti-choice groups often oppose these bills, creating the illusion that most anti-choice politicians care about women. The reality is that much more mainstream legislation has been repeatedly proven to kill women, and anti-choicers know it.
The Republicans Who Want to Execute Women
Texas House Bill 896 would have made abortion a homicide punishable by the death penalty or life in prison. The bill defines life as beginning at fertilization—a definition that precedes even the medical definition of pregnancy. Pregnancy does not begin until implantation, which happens several days after fertilization. Legislation with such a bizarre definition of life could open women up to penalties for miscarriages or even failed implantation, before they even know they are pregnant.
Tony Tinderholt, the Republican who introduced the measure, has previously introduced similar legislation. In 2017, he asserted that the purpose of killing women for having abortions was to make them “consider the repercussions” of having sex. You can contact Representative Tinderholt here.
The bill was killed in committee, but it’s part of a larger trend of increasingly extreme anti-choice legislation. Alabama is considering legislation that would make abortion punishable by up to 99 years in prison.
Anti-Choice Politics: A Leading Cause of Terrorism
Mainstream anti-choice politicians have long operated alongside an increasingly extreme movement that proposes killing women, doctors, and medical staff. Many anti-choice acts of terrorism even put living children in danger.
Anti-abortion violence and threats reached a 20-year high in 2016. Since 1993, terrorists have killed 11 people connected to abortion. There have been 7,214 reported acts of violence, 42 bombings, and 186 arsons. Anti-abortion ideology remains a leading cause of terrorism in the U.S.
Opposing Bodily Autonomy at All Costs
You don’t have to be a terrorist or a Republican who wants to kill women to endanger women’s lives. The data consistently show that anti-abortion legislation kills and injures women. The U.S. has the worst maternal mortality rate in the developed world. It is more dangerous to give birth in some states (especially those with stringent anti-abortion regulations) than it is to give birth in nations such as Iraq and Iran.
When lawmakers force women to give birth while doing nothing to stop the epidemic of maternal death, women will die. An avalanche of data has directly linked abortion restrictions to maternal deaths. In El Salvador, suicide became a leading cause of maternal deaths after abortion was banned. Worldwide, more than 40,000 women die of unsafe abortion each year. The Turnaway Study has found that women denied abortions are more likely to remain in abusive relationships, to be impoverished, and to suffer from serious mental health problems.
So the “mainstream” pro-lifers who claim to be appalled by attempts to execute women aren’t nearly as reasonable as they seem. They’ve seen the data. They’ve heard testimony from doctors, women, and a wide range of scientists. They know that banning abortion will kill women and the fetuses they carry. They just don’t care.
It’s not about life. It’s about punishing women.
