Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • The full PUMP Act is now in effect. Here’s what it does for lactating parents.

        Chabeli Carrazana · April 28
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • This Delaware candidate could be the first transgender member of Congress

        Orion Rummler · June 26
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What are 'late-term abortions' — and why are politicians talking about them? 

        Mel Leonor Barclay, Shefali Luthra · August 21
      • The 19th Explains: Why child marriage is still legal in 80% of U.S. states

        Mariel Padilla · July 5
      • The 19th Explains: The Supreme Court’s decision in the LGBTQ+ 303 Creative case

        Kate Sosin · June 30
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      The State of Our Nation

      • States passing abortion bans reflect what only a small minority of their constituents actually want

        Jasmine Mithani · October 24
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Voting organizers are breathing ‘a deep sigh of relief’ over Supreme Court rulings on elections — for now

        Barbara Rodriguez · July 6
      • Ranked-choice voting is gaining momentum. So are efforts to stop it.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 24
      • Connecticut voters approved early voting. Here’s how their new secretary of state wants to make it happen.

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 13

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Election 2024
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Military
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs a bill
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that added voting restrictions on Tuesday in Tyler, Texas, where he also took questions about the state's abortion restrictions. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Health

Texas’ governor got a basic fact about pregnancy wrong

When asked why the state’s new abortion restriction doesn’t provide exceptions for rape and incest, his answer misstated what six weeks of pregnancy really means.

By

Shefali Luthra, Abby Johnston

Published

2021-09-07 13:47
1:47
September 7, 2021
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

We’re the only newsroom dedicated to writing about gender, politics and policy. Subscribe to our newsletter today.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday misstated the basics of how pregnancy works and the harsh impact of Texas’ six-week abortion ban, which went into effect last week and is already inspiring copycat legislation across the country. 

The law, Senate Bill 8, essentially eliminates abortion in the state and does not make exceptions for people who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest. At a news conference for the signing of a new law imposing voting restrictions, a reporter asked: “Why force a rape or incest victim to carry a pregnancy to term?”

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Abbott replied: “It doesn’t require that at all, because obviously it provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion.”

He also added that the state would “work tirelessly” to “eliminate all rapists” through arrests and prosecutions.

The governor’s answer demonstrates a common misconception about the law: Six weeks of pregnancy does not mean six weeks to get an abortion. SB 8 has been deemed the most restrictive active law in the country, largely because the window to get an abortion is limited to two weeks at most.

Gestational age begins at the end of a previous period, and the first sign of pregnancy is often missing one’s period. A typical menstrual cycle lasts 28 days, or about four weeks. A person cannot get pregnant until after they have ovulated, which generally happens halfway through the cycle. 

That means that if someone has a perfectly regular menstrual period, they may know they are pregnant by what we call four weeks of pregnancy. That leaves two weeks at most for people to get an abortion. But those with irregular periods — a common consequence of stress or fatigue —  may not know until even later that they could be pregnant, or should take a test, cutting further into that six-week window. And while some tests can detect pregnancy before a missed period, it isn’t common. Almost half of all pregnancies are unplanned, meaning many people are not actively monitoring to see if they are pregnant. 

The newsletter for the new electorate, delivered to your inbox every other week

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

“To call it a six-week ban — it’s really a two-week window at best,” Katherine Kraschel, a lecturer at Yale Law School and expert on reproductive health policy, told The 19th after Texas initially passed the law. “That would be if the pregnancy test was taken the day they missed their period, and assuming they have a four-week menstrual cycle.”

The data supports that. Nationally, almost two-thirds of abortions occur after six weeks, per statistics from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. In Texas, the figure appears even bigger: 85 to 90 percent of abortions performed are for people who are beyond six weeks pregnant, according to the state’s reproductive health clinics. 

In Texas, access to abortion was already hard to come by. The six-week ban is part of a network of laws that has limited access to the procedure. Patients must visit the abortion provider twice and wait 24 hours between visits. Insurance is generally banned from covering the procedure, which can cost hundreds of dollars. 

  • More from The 19th
    Photo of children and parents in a shelter.
  • How abortion restrictions like Texas’ push pregnant people into poverty
  • Inside the Republican strategy for rolling out abortion bans in more states
  • The 19th Explains: What to know about Texas’ abortion law

A 2013 restriction that was ultimately struck down had required that any doctor providing an abortion have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. That provision was in effect for almost three years and resulted in many state clinics closing their doors. 

Now, Texas’ new law is exacerbating that issue. It is already driving state clinics to scale back their services dramatically so that they are in compliance with the law. Many are expected to shut down completely, eliminating any nearby option for people seeking an abortion — after six weeks, or even before. 

Some Texans will be able to travel across state lines for abortions. Indeed, many are already doing so, with clinics in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas and Colorado already reporting patient surges. The journey is an average of more than 200 miles, per the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive health policy. 

But people who cannot make the trip — whether because of travel or lodging expenses, child care challenges, or the inability to get time off — will either be forced to carry their pregnancies to term or to attempt a self-induced abortion, which can be life-threatening. 

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

Become a member

Up Next

US President Joe Biden speaks in the Oval Office.

Politics

72 hours after Texas abortion ban, White House scrambling on federal response

It’s still unclear what the Biden administration can do to mitigate the law’s impact — beyond using the bully pulpit.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Ways to Give
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram