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What are Women's Rights?
Women's rights promote a position of legal and social equality of women with men. EmpowerWoC recognizes there has been a historical bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls and fights against suppression of women's rights by participating in marches and advocation for fair legislation. Examples of women's rights under threat are fair wages, bodily autonomy and access to affordable healthcare.
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The World Health Organization states that achieving the right to health is both central to, and dependent upon, the realization of other human rights including, food, housing, work, education, information, and participation.
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Why It Matters
EmpowerWoC supports a women's right to choose. Effective September 1, 2021, The Texas Abortion Law (Senate Bill 8) as it's written is in clear violation of the following principals of women's rights to health:
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Freedoms or right to control one’s health and body (for example, sexual and reproductive rights)
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Entitlements include the right to a system of health protection that gives everyone an equal opportunity to enjoy the highest attainable level of health.
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In Texas, abortions are now banned as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Notably, the law does not even make exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
The precedent set forth by Roe V. Wade in the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right to the procedure is now in danger as the Texas Abortion Law is the most restrictive in the nation in terms of access to abortion services.
According to the New York Times, Texas Abortion Law also complicates care for risky pregnancies, putting women of color at a further disadvantage considering they already face racial disparity in maternal and infant mortality.
Who will be most affected by Texas Abortion Law (SB 8)?
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There are seven million women of childbearing age in Texas, and the law will make it more difficult for all of them to obtain abortions in the state, as Republican legislators intended.
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The law does not even make exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
Women's Rights are Human Rights
