Roe is dead, and we have killed her. 

More than 50 years of precedent is gone after the United States Supreme Court struck it down in 2022. The rise of whatever you want to call it — Constitutional originalism, religious fundamentalism or plain woman-hating — reigns supreme. Dobbs is the law of the land for now. 

After the trigger ban, the Texas Heartbeat Act, or SB 8, went into effect, representatives who shouted “Life!” at the top of their lungs have accomplished nothing of the sort. 

Instead, they’ve done the opposite.

Bounty hunterism

Power was given back to the states to control the at-large reproductive healthcare system, and more specifically, states can seriously penalize or criminalize doctors for performing illegal abortions. More odiously, private citizens can also sue anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion procedure. 

Now, hypothetically, a disgruntled ex-husband can sue his ex-wife’s friends for allegedly helping her get abortion medication or a procedure. According to SB 8, if he’s a successful plaintiff, he may be reimbursed a minimum of $10,000 in court costs for his “damages.” 

This is not so hypothetical. It’s what one man tried to do. 

In 2023, Marcus Silva sued his ex-wife’s friends in a lawsuit, alleging a “wrongful death.” The women counter-sued, and both sides ended up dropping their claims, though his ex-wife claimed that Silva tried to manipulate her into staying in their marriage.

This is but one effect this draconian law has on women. It swells up women’s collective fears not only around pregnancy, but regarding marriage, financial stability and potential threats aimed at friends and family. More dangerously, the law doesn’t allow exceptions for rape or incest, only medical emergencies. This one exception is practically only in name, however.

Chilling healthcare

Doctors and midwives are scared of being accused of performing abortions, and that fear drives real public policy consequences such that medical emergencies aren’t treated properly.

Though abortions will continue to be performed illegally in the state, it may be without the medical oversight of professionals. The chilling effect becomes suppressing their own needs in order to save face — a deadly risk. 

In November 2024, Porsha Ngumezi died after her doctor opted against an emergency procedure following a miscarriage. Ngumezi’s obstetrician gave her only a routine drug called misoprostol, but the bleeding didn’t stop. She died three hours later.

Medical experts reviewing her case agreed that Ngumezi needed a lifesaving “dilation and curettage” procedure, a common surgical procedure for abortions and miscarriages. At one of the most premier medical institutions not just in Texas, but the entire country, SB 8 prevented her from being properly treated.

There are several reports of providers delaying medical care because of the threat of jail time, inducing political fear in our healthcare system. Even if women want to travel to get a safe abortion, the state is currently cracking down on programs that provide that service. 

This month, the state created a new law banning government-supported funds that presumably help people travel for an abortion. San Antonio’s Reproductive Justice Fund helped fund abortion-related travels. 

Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the city of San Antonio claiming that it was, “Attempting to undermine and subvert Texas law and public policy.” This juridical fight over women leaving to find doctors who will treat them doesn’t stay in state; Texas politicians seek to actively prosecute doctors outside of Texas for sending abortion pills.

Pill politics 

The Texas governor’s lasso leaps out of the state to latch onto women — and doctors.

The Supreme Court unanimously rejected that common abortion medications be banned. However, Texas politicians seek to ban any and all access.

In December 2025, House Bill 7 went into effect. This bill allows private citizens to sue abortion pill providers and manufacturers. Now, Food and Drug Administration-approved abortion pills — a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol to end early-term pregnancies — are treated as contraband.

Citizen plaintiffs can sue distributors and be awarded $100,000 in damages. Theoretically, if a fearful teenage daughter talks to her family about seeking abortion medication, she puts them at legal risk for helping her. What if her own family forbids her from even thinking about having an abortion? Who will she go to then?

Roe sought to protect women’s privacy and her personal health concerns. These matters used to stay between herself and her trusted doctor. Yet, when she tries to access legal medical services outside of the state, the state attempts to nationalize their own abortion policies. It’s a clear attempt to terrorize pregnant individuals in Texas and elsewhere.

Agenda setting for midterms

In today’s post-Roe America, women are dying from the rules lawmakers claim will protect them.

When a law threatens your bodily autonomy, bans lifesaving medication and enables anyone — from ex-partners to complete strangers — to sue abortion providers and friends, there is no mistaking your freedoms are being threatened.

There’s no recourse for a vaguely written law that treats its own women as second-class citizens who are to be stalked, sued or stifled from accessing care from medical professionals or helping those that do. Our lawmakers probably never had to pee on a stick in the middle of a CVS and undergo the sheer violence these laws have produced. Even if you think abortion is wrong, bad laws are never justified.

This year brings the midterms, and we must be eager to right these wrongs and pressure our Texas representatives to pass laws that empower us. No bodily autonomy should mean no votes.

Sidney Uy is a philosophy junior and opinion columnist for The Battalion.