by Sydney Wiser ‘23

Last week, the Texas legislature passed the strictest abortion law in the country, which bans all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The law limits bodily autonomy and is in direct violation of the 1972 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, which protects the right to have an abortion under the fourteenth amendment’s due process clause. In the same week, the legislature passed a law allowing anyone over the age of twenty-one to carry a handgun without a background check or a permit.

With this decision, the Texas legislature has done more to protect gun rights than the reproductive choices of its child-bearing citizens. This is a frustrating and frankly appalling double standard that is made only more concerning when it’s noted that even the most vulnerable populations such as rape victims and those with life-threatening pregnancy complications also are restricted under the new law. The fact that a person with a uterus has more restrictions on them than a weapon that’s been the cause of some of the most violent and fatal events in our country’s modern history is deeply troubling. The state legislature has made it abundantly clear that they prioritize gun owners being able to parade around the street without a permit instead of the fundamental rights of people to be able to make choices about their own bodies.