Name: Aayushi Kalpeshkumar Potla ( Student ID- 1001872209)
Legislative testimony preliminary write-up
1. General topic, including country:
Today I am going to right about Texas Heartbeat Act which was enacted in May,2021 and it commenced in September,2021 in USA. This bill was introduced by Bryan Hughes and signed by:
Senate President
House Speaker
Secretary of State vacant
House Chief Clerk Robert Haney
Governor
2. Legislation you will address in your testimony:
According to bill the abortion is bans after the ultrasound detects the heartbeat of fetal and which is as early as possible around sixth week of pregnancy.
3. Organization you will represent:
I want to represent the American Academy of Family Physician to support against the Heartbeat Act.
4. Legislative committee you plan to address:
I plan to address the Public Health Committee. Also I can ask local senator to draft a law or can file petition in local county court.
5. Summary of issue and significance:
There are some issues with this act, and they are as follows:
It says that woman can not terminate her pregnancy after 6th week of gestation but how would woman know before 6th week because it can be misguided by delayed menstruation. If woman will know about the pregnancy then also for the termination of pregnancy with medical (Surgical) procedure she have to wait until she did not get appointment and as we all know that for any medical procedure person will have to wait for so long. Even for regular health check-up people of USA have to wait for couple of month.
The second issue I want to address that What if a Pregnancy is a result of Rape then how to deal with the situation. Because in that case girl will be going through the recovering process mentally as well as physically. She will not be in that state that she can decide about the termination or keeping the pregnancy. According to one report many girls did not complained about the rape because of fear of community.
Third issue I want to address that what if the child is having some medical condition such as Mental Retardation (called as Specially able) or what if the child have genetic disease. In that case it is not detectable in early trimester of pregnancy. It can be only detectable with the development of baby can occur in mother’s womb. In that case the termination is better option rather that suffering life long with that disease.
In addition, if woman is a single mother, due to poverty or low income parents can’t afford the expenses of an extra child. According to bill government will provide the prenatal, child-birth and neonatal grant to the mother. But Is it sufficient for the life long expenses. Parents have to look out for their education, living cost, marriage and many more. This expenses will not covered by grant given by the government. Ultimately, it will create a burden on the family.
6. What you anticipate recommending (at this point, knowing it could change):Optional: Are there any challenges you are encountering at this point regarding the topic, research, legislation, legislative committee, etc.?
At this point I would like to suggest that the government have to reviewed about the bill and they can also take some guidance regarding the abortion from the abortion bills passed by different countries.
Here, I would like to say about the MTP Act, which is imposed in India and according to that act Termination of pregnancy is permitted for a broad range of conditions up to 24 weeks of gestation as detailed below:
When a pregnant woman's life is threatened, or her bodily or mental health is jeopardized by continuing the pregnancy.
When there is a significant possibility that the kid will be severely disabled if born or dies due to physical or mental defects.
When a woman becomes pregnant as a result of rape (which is thought to have caused serious mental harm to the lady).
When a pregnancy occurs due to failure contraception (presumed to constitute grave injury to mental health of the woman).
When the family's socioeconomic situation is not good, and the couple already has two or three children
If woman’s marital status will be changed during pregnancy.
Women with physical disabilities.
Minor.
