Texas trigger law in effect

The UTRGV community has differing views on Texas House Bill 1280, the so-called trigger law that bans almost all abortions.

The state’s trigger law states that performing an abortion is now a felony punishable by up to life in prison and a civil penalty of “not less than $100,000 for each violation.”

“It’s a very dangerous situation for a lot of people of reproductive age, basically,” said Mònica Clua-Losada, a UTRGV political science professor. “It creates an unsafe situation for anybody who has reproductive organs and, you know, we all now find our bodies in danger of not being able to receive the health care that we deserve.”

Clua-Losada said low-income women will be affected by the trigger law.

“People who have money, who also have the legal status that allows them to travel, they will still be able to travel to places where they will be able to have abortions,” she said. “But there are a lot of women that that possibility is not available to them, either because they don’t have money to pay for that travel on top of paying for the procedure. … But, also, it places a huge challenge for those women who might not have the legal right to move freely as well.”

On July 26, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its official decision on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, clearing the way for Texas House Bill 1280, known as the trigger law, to ban almost all abortions. 

The law, which went into effect Aug. 25, prohibits abortion around six weeks of gestation except when “in the exercise of reasonable medical judgment, the pregnant female on whom the abortion is performed, induced, or attempted has a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced,” according to Sec. 170A.002 (b)(2) of the Texas Health and Safety Code.

The law has no exceptions on abortion, even in cases of “victim of rape or incest.”

The Health and Safety Code defines abortion as “the act of using or prescribing an instrument, a drug, a medicine, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to cause the death of an unborn child of a woman known to be pregnant.”

Clua-Losada said the law affects the liberty people have over their bodies.

“The current legislation does not carry exceptions for rape or incest,” she said. “So we have a situation where a woman might be raped … and they might face a longer prison sentence than the rapist will. So the fact that that has been removed is a real attack on people’s body autonomy and freedom.”

Clua-Losada said it is important for the UTRGV community to learn about the resources that are offered.

South Texans for Reproductive Justice, a nonprofit organization centered on reproductive health, reproductive justice, freedom and autonomy, is providing free emergency contraception pills. They serve the following counties in South Texas: Brooks, Cameron, Duval, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Kleberg, Kenedy, Starr, Willacy, Zapata and Webb. South Texans can request emergency contraceptives at https://airtable.com/shrqe5oPvR2i3k0HX.

Frontera Fund is a “practical support and financial assistance abortion fund for people residing in the Rio Grande Valley,” according to its website. 

Mariela Trujillo, president of the Students for Life organization at UTRGV, which can be contacted at utrgvstudentsforlife@gmail.com, said its objective is to make abortion an unthinkable decision for women.

“I’m pro life, because life begins at the moment of conception and I believe that life is beautiful … and every human being has the right to life,” Trujillo said. “If we can’t defend for the most innocent, which is our children, what are we as a nation? If we can’t stand up for the most innocent … then we are not a nation at all.”

Trujillo said an abortion should never be the solution.

“You can come up with so many problems for a woman to say that abortion is the only solution, but it’s never going to be the solution,” she said. “We are just going to terminate not only the life of the child, but it’s going to harm the life of the mother physically and mentally.”

Trujillo said she was pleased with the decision taken by the U.S. Supreme Court but agrees with abortion in cases of rape.

“Women do not deserve to be raped,” she said. “Women should not be harmed in any way. Rape goes against the law. … I believe that women should deserve justice.”

English sophomore Fernanda Garcia is against the trigger law.

“It’s very stupid,” Garcia said. “The Supreme Court is made up of old people with old traditions from the past. I am a Christian and even I support abortions. My beliefs should not have anything to do [with] whether a woman has an abortion or not.”

She said she does not agree that women should be fined for a right they should have.

“Women are only [going to] look for ways to have an abortion,” Garcia said. “These ways can cause harm to these women if they, or someone else performing the abortion, [do] not know what they are doing. Even if they do know what they are doing, they will still get fined for doing so. It infuriates me.”