Sadly, this isn’t a joke
Women who are feeling pressured by their parents or partner to have an abortion are being advised by the state to pick up the phone and dial 911, according to a new pamphlet the state released Monday.
The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas is not pleased, saying such calls could impede the response to emergencies like shootings and home invasions.
“Texas police are short-staffed all over the state in big urban departments and in small rural places and everything in between, so unless someone’s holding you down trying to force you to have an abortion, then you’re going to be placed on a priority two or three,” said Charley Wilkison, executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, also known as CLEAT.
The state’s advice comes amid a host of changes in “A Woman’s Right to Know,” a brochure health clinics and abortion providers are required by state law to give women considering an abortion.
“No one can force you to have an abortion, not even your parents or the father of your baby,” reads the new introduction to the brochure. “If you are feeling pressure (also called coercion) from someone to have an abortion, you have options. Talk to your doctor, counselor or spiritual adviser about your feelings, and ask for a phone to call 9-1-1 for immediate help.”
“Technically, this is not what we consider an emergency call,” said Joe Laud, the administration manager of the Houston Emergency Center. Emergency calls are for life-threatening situations, he said, adding he was not aware of any directive or training to expect to handle 911 callers reporting they feel coerced into an abortion.
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Critics have lambasted the brochure for using loaded language and reprinting factual errors, such as linking abortion to a higher risk of breast cancer and that a fetus can feel pain in the early stages of pregnancy. In both cases, scientific studies have debunked those suggestions, although the pamphlet reports them as fact.
Other revisions are linguistic, such as increasing use of the term “your baby” to describe the fetus from four references in the last version to 79 in the version released Monday.
“It’s misinformation intended to change, stigmatize abortion and to dissuade women from making a free choice about their health care by providing that kind of propaganda and misinformation,” said Blake Rocap, legislative counsel for NARAL Pro-Choice Texas.
The other day I listened to a podcast interview with Diane Horvath-Cosper, a doctor and reproductive specialist who provides abortions and who also lobbies on issues of women’s health and reproductive choice. According to her, the first line of defense against any woman being coerced into having an abortion are the doctors and staff at clinics that provide them, who will speak to the woman privately, discuss all her options, and put her in touch with social services if need be. You have to be a member of Slate Plus to hear the interview (if you are a Slate Plus member, I highly recommend it), so if that’s not an option for you, here’s an op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post last year about her experiences. If there’s any coercion going on, it’s aimed at people like Dr. Horvath-Cosper and her patients.
I think the reason why the people who pushed for this language to be added to this brochure, which as a purportedly educational offering is more harmful than helpful to its target audience, is because they really want it to be true that women are being pressured into terminating pregnancies, in the same way they really wanted the fraudulent videos about Planned Parenthood to be true. They want to see themselves as stalwart defenders protecting the helpless against unspeakable atrocities, but in order to do that they need for those atrocities to be happening, so they can defend against them. And if reality isn’t cooperating, they can always pretend that it is. In today’s world, that’s more than good enough. Juanita, the Statesman, the Austin Chronicle, and the Current have more.