Self-induced abortions are growing voraciously among women in Texas after the abortion clinics are shutting down one by one. The survey revelation has taken aback the government of Texas when they found out that women between 100,000 and 240,000 has induced abortions all by themselves when they failed to get access to clinics. Texas Policy Evaluation Project, a University of Texas effort started a survey among women asking them if they or their best friends have ever committed self-induced abortions. The results were shocking indeed! among 779 women, 1.7 percent said they had performed an abortion on themselves, whereas a surprising 4.1 percent of them said their best friend had done. Surveyors are doubting that the most of the women have mentioned their best friends and has withheld the truth.
Texas Policy Evaluation Project also unveiled that the most common method of terminating pregnancy, adopted by Texas women is a medicine called ‘Misoprostol’, also known as Cytotec. Others use herbs or homeopathic remedies, some more cruel procedures like getting hit or punched in the abdomen, using alcohol or illicit drugs, or taking hormonal pills.
The big question: why is the condition of women so pathetic in Texas? Owing to an order by the Supreme Court of Texas, the clinics need to meet certain quality measures in order to operate. Just after the prder relased, it was impossible for most of the abortion clinics to transform its infrastructure to such a high grade in a short span. This resulted the clinics to shut down. Texas now has just 17 abortion clinics, compared to 41 in 2012, and almost all the remaining clinics are in other big cities. It often becomes impossible for women to travel large distances, spending a lot of money. As The Atlantic says, “If the Supreme Court upholds the law, seven more clinics will likely close, leaving just 10 in operation for the 269,000-square-mile state.”
According to a blog post in New York Times, “the average Texas county is now 111 miles from the nearest clinic, up from 72 miles in 2012. This is substantially higher than the national average outside Texas, 59 miles.”
The survey includes the opinion of the women on self-induced abortions. Check out the above screenshot.
