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SWLC Statement

Southwest Women’s Law Center

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Official Statement on Texas Senate Bill 8

The Southwest Women’s Law Center (SWLC) is outraged and saddened that women’s health, fundamental freedoms, and constitutional rights continue to be attacked in America. On September 1, 2021, Senate Bill 8 took effect in Texas. This bill is aimed at banning safe abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around 6-weeks’ gestation.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in 2018 more than 90% of abortions were performed around or before 13-weeks’ gestation. Most women seeking abortions do not know they are pregnant until after the 6 -week mark. Texas Senate Bill 8 doesn’t stop abortion. This bill only makes abortions harder to obtain and will endanger the lives of women in Texas.

This has been a consistent effort by lawmakers and anti-abortion zealots in Texas over the last several decades. In 2013, lawmakers attempted a similar abortion ban known as House Bill 2. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban was unconstitutional in 2017. But the damage was already done to abortion access in Texas. As a result, less than 20 abortion clinics exist today in Texas. Now, lawmakers in Texas have taken further action and have banned abortions after 6-weeks with the passing of Senate Bill 8.

Under Senate Bill 8, seeking an abortion is not criminalized. However, those who assist the person or perform the abortion may face civil liability. Worse, this law actively encourages private citizens, with no standing, to act as bounty hunters by awarding them $10,000 if they successfully sue another person for providing abortion or assisting someone who gets an abortion after 6-weeks’ gestation.

This abortion ban is intentionally designed to overwhelm clinics in the state with lawsuits and legal bills and force them to shut down. Due to structural racism and inequities, laws like Texas’ abortion ban disproportionately harms people of color, people with low incomes, and those living in rural areas. This bill will effectively end safe abortion access in Texas. Unfortunately, these bans will not stop in Texas. Oklahoma passed a similar bill that is expected to go into effect on November 1, 2021. The Oklahoma bill makes performing an abortion a homicide. Florida is now also considering a bill like the abortion ban in Texas. Women in New Mexico are currently immune from the laws in other states. But this does not mean we should sit by and watch our sisters in other states suffer. We at the

Southwest Women’s Law Center is involved in efforts to support those seeking safe abortions and encourage others to help however they can. Organizations Below is a list of organizations currently engaged in the fight for Women’s access to safe and legal reproductive health services:

OrganizationWhat they are doingWebsite
ACLUPursing a lawsuit regarding the Texas safe abortion ban.aclu.org
Fund Texas
Choice		Provides travel and accommodation assistance to Texas residents.fundtexaschoice.org
Lilith FundProvides financial assistance and emotional supportlilithfund.org
Avow and Lilith
Fund		Provides location of clinics, funding information, free legal help for pregnant minors, counseling, and other help.needabortion.org
National Network of Abortion FundsProvides a list of organizations that can help fund abortion in all 50 states.abortionfunds.org/need-abortion

We encourage supporters to contact the organizations directly to provide monetary support.

Download PDF Statement

The Southwest Women’s Law Center Statement Regarding the Shooting in the Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia Area on Tuesday, March 16th

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The Southwest Women’s Law Center (“SWLC”) denounces and decries in the strongest terms possible the shootings at Atlanta metro area massage/spa facilities on Tuesday, March 16th, whereas of this writing, eight individuals were killed. Six of the victims were Asian American/Pacific Islander (“AAPI”) women.
 
This is nothing new. The AAPI community has historically been the target of racism. Former President Trump and those in his administration engaged in a racist verbal assault against the AAPI community, which has inflamed a year-long eruption of racist attacks across the country. This ongoing violence, coupled with yesterday’s mass shooting event, has caused our AAPI friends, neighbors, and community in New Mexico to live in fear for their safety and for that of their families and loved ones.
 
It is being reported that Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, has confessed to the murders, claiming that he has a “sexual addiction” and that the businesses where the shootings occurred were a “temptation” and needed to be “eliminated”. He was said to be on his way to Florida to continue his work when he was fortunately intercepted by police and arrested. It is reported that the gun used in the murders was purchased earlier in the same day.
 
Whatever the stated reason for the deadly attacks, the motivation for these murders cannot be separated from the meteoric rise in hate crimes nationally against the AAPI community, precipitated by the Trump administration over the last four years and continued by his supporters. In fact, Trump referred to Covid-19 as the “China virus” as recently as the evening of these murders. While the previous administration’s actions have much to do with the precipitous upswing in racially motivated attacks against the AAPI community, this cancer did not start with the Trump administration. The AAPI community has been the target of racial discrimination and violence for hundreds of years.
 
From the targeting of Chinese-run businesses in 1886 San Francisco, to the internment of Japanese American immigrants and citizens during World War II, discrimination and violence against the AAPI community is nothing new. And so, it continues today. Identifying the motive for these murders as perceived sexual deviancy or a “sex addiction” in an attempt to divert the conversation away from the racial violence being perpetrated against the AAPI community simply will not work. Not this time. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.
 
This attack reflects the deadly intersections of racism, white supremacy, and misogyny, which harm women and people of color daily through systemic oppression. The violence perpetrated on Tuesday was not an anomaly, but rather a reflection of a society that has been structured to maintain white male privilege and excuse violence perpetrated by them against women and communities of color.  As we continue our work to fight systems of oppression and strive toward equity and justice, we at the SWLC ask that you hold your AAPI friends and neighbors close and that we wrap the community in love and healing.
 
 
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