As an editorial board, we are collectively appalled, disappointed, and enraged by the abortion legislation passed in Texas. The Republican-controlled legislature pushed through a law that strips women of their right to pursue an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. 

The  legislation also enables citizens to act as bounty hunters and accuse their fellow citizens of having an abortion, bringing them to court in exchange for a monetary reward. 

Not only do these laws violate Roe v. Wade, a court cases that has held up women’s right to bodily autonomy for close to fifty years and is hailed as one of the victories of the feminist wave of the 1960s, the law makes no sense. 

The majority of women do not even know if they are six weeks pregnant. As women ourselves, we don’t even blink when being a week late on our periods, because menstrual cycles are so erratic, and are different for everyone. By setting the restriction at six weeks, law makers effectively forbid women from attaining an abortion from the start. This law therefore isn’t limiting women’s choices because people believe that the fetus is alive at a certain point; the law is just a shameless attempt to control women. 

The law is a very depressing reminder that for women, the personal is always political. Women’s bodies are considered fair grounds for litigation — something men have never had to experience in their lives. From dress codes targeting girls as the problem for distracted boys to preventing a woman from making a medical choice for the benefit of her health, men in authoritative positions, without a single idea of what it is like to be a woman, think it is okay to pass laws about women’s bodies. 

Not only is the current politicization of women’s bodies and their choices with what to do with them being misogynistic, the Texas abortion ban is also racist. 

Those who are not as financially well off are less likely to be able to safely get an abortion, and because the majority of those economic disparities are affecting people of color (POC), these laws disproportionately affected communities based on race. 

White women are more likely to be able to have the means and networks to obtain an abortion with the withstanding abortion ban in their state. The people who are not as easily able to obtain one are lower income Latinx and Black women. It’s a terrifying intersection of race and misogyny that disadvantages these women two times over.    

There is no sugarcoating it: the ease with which Texas pushed this abortion ban through its legislature is a saddening reminder of how women’s progress in this country can be taken back or stalled with the flick of a male finger. The fight to reclaim our body and overcome the systematic gender oppression we face in this country is ongoing. So, while it is disheartening that this ban was passed, it’s also a reminder of what we should be fighting for. 

The rage that is boiling inside every woman who just wants the chance to make their own choice should be harnessed. We need women to fight for their choices, and help each other out. Driving others to abortion clinics, or simply being at clinics and planned parenthoods as escorts are impactful ways to help.

Abortion is NOT just a women’s issue. The systematic oppression of women and the politicization of their bodies is something that has been normalized in the country, which has allowed patriarchy and misogyny to flourish for so long. To confront it, we need everyone advocating for women’s rights, donating to help women make the choices they deserve to make, and pointing out how absolutely twisted it is for anyone other than women to be making choices about women’s bodies.