The Texas Heartbeat Act restricts abortion to before a preborn child’s heartbeat can be detected, usually at about six weeks, though the heart has already been beating from 16 to 22 days after fertilization. There is no exception to the pro-life law for preborn babies conceived in rape, or for young girls who have become pregnant possibly through statutory rape, and this has stirred up a great deal of controversy. Even some individuals who consider themselves to be pro-life believe that killing a preborn human being somehow becomes acceptable if that child is conceived as a result of a sexual assault.
Abortion advocates tend to fall back on the most heartbreaking of stories in order to justify legalized on-demand abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. This remained true following the enactment of the Texas Heartbeat Act on September 1. A pro-abortion meme discussing what 11-year-olds cannot do by law quickly made its way around social media — but it’s missing the big picture.
The meme states that an 11-year-old cannot “buy a PG-13 movie ticket, buy a lottery ticket, buy cold medicine, buy a T-rated video game, drive a vehicle, vote.” The meme adds “A list of things an 11 yr old is now required to do: carry out a full term pregnancy.”
But this is a misrepresentation of the situation.
In reality, an 11-year-old in Texas is not required to become pregnant and have a baby, but she is prohibited from having an abortion, because 1) every abortion kills a human being, 2) an abortion has the potential to worsen the lasting negative impact on the 11-year-old’s mental health, and 3) an abortion could risk her physical health as well. PG-13 movies, lottery tickets, cold medicine, video games, voting, and even driving have much lower risks (if any risk at all) of causing such deep and lasting trauma on a young girl, yet each is restricted in order to protect her innocence. Young girls also deserve to be protected from abortion.
Abortion may be presented as virtually risk-free, but it isn’t. Post-abortive women and girls have suffered uterus and cervix perforations, bowel perforations, and infections — some of which require a hysterectomy, stripping them of the ability to ever carry a child again. Tragically, many women have also died.
Abortion also carries serious mental health risks. One study found that 60% of women suffered emotional distress following an abortion, and for 16% of those women, that distress was classified as “severe.” Additional studies link abortion to suicide, showing that women who had abortions were up to 7x more likely to die by suicide than women who gave birth. In addition, a British study found that women who underwent abortions were 225% more likely to attempt suicide, and that situation was even direr for young girls. Teenagers who undergo abortions are 10x more likely to attempt suicide. Other risk factors include increased drug and alcohol abuse, and higher rates of depression.
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A major concern that is often avoided by abortion enthusiasts is that if an 11-year-old girl is pregnant, it is highly likely that a sexual assault has occurred, since not a single state says an 11-year-old can consent to sex.
Planned Parenthood is a mandated reporter of sexual abuse, and that includes anyone below the age of consent who is pregnant. Yet Planned Parenthood doesn’t report these cases, and instead, takes the money for the abortion and sends the girls back to their abusers. The abortion corporation has been caught doing this with girls as young as 12. Rather than protecting the girl, or informing her parents so they can stop the abuse, Planned Parenthood assists the abuser and takes the money for the abortion.
Eleven-year-old girls can’t take Tylenol at school without a parent’s permission, but abortion advocates believe they are old enough to undergo abortions without their parents’ knowledge or consent. The abortion industry is grooming young girls to become their loyal clients by pretending to be on their side, separating them from their parents, pushing birth control and casual sex on them, all so that they can turn them into return clients who come back for STD testing, more birth control, and abortions.
The problem isn’t that an 11-year-old girl can’t have an abortion in Texas. The problem is that she is pregnant in the first place. The real concern is how to prevent such situations from occurring, and to protect these girls from further trauma when these rare situations do occur.
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