Texas announces 60% reduction in abortions since ‘heartbeat’ law
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Texas has announced a 60% reduction in abortions in the state since its September 1, 2021 implementation of a “heartbeat bill” which bans abortion from about six weeks’ gestation, the Washington Times reports.
However, America’s biggest abortion provider Planned Parenthood said its clinics in neighboring states saw an 800% increase in requests for termination by Texas citizens during the same period.
In a press statement Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday said the S.B.8 law had saved “17,000 newborn lives” in the six months since the bill was enacted, the Times reports.
“Simply by having SB8 enacted, thousands of lives have already been saved in Texas. Stopping abortion providers from conducting these barbaric practices is yet another win for our great state. I will continue to fight tirelessly for the rights of the unborn,” Paxton said.
S.B.8 not only prohibits abortion from around six weeks gestation, when a fetal heartbeat is detected but also prohibits anyone at all from helping women to get an abortion – including such people as faith counselors and drivers.
The law is strengthened by a clause that allows anyone at all, even a person with no connection to the woman, and from another state, to file a civil lawsuit against her or her helpers for an amount of up to $10,000.
The US Supreme Court allowed the bill to be implemented despite widespread protest that most women are not even aware they are pregnant at six weeks’ gestation and despite concerns about the development of a vigilante culture that encourages bounty hunting.
Dr. Iman Alsaden, medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, reported an 800% increase in requests for abortion by Texas women at clinics in neighboring states, the Times said.
Kathaleen Pittman, clinic administrator at Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Louisiana, also reported that, before the new law, 18% of her patients were from Texas but that figure had risen to 60% by December.
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