“Hands off our bodies:” Women’s reactions to proposed abortion ban

A view from the inside: (Sol)

Edinburg, TX—When I entered the Edinburg City Hall on July 20, I was immediately told the first floor of the chamber had reached capacity. My options were watching through a TV screen outside the chamber or watching from the balcony. 

I chose the latter. 

As I joined the other twenty people up there, I nodded at the pro-choice lady next to me. She had a poster criticizing the blatant attack on women’s rights. That evening, the city council was considering an ordinance that would outlaw abortion in Edinburg. How ironic that Edinburg doesn’t even have an abortion center, similar to how the council does not have a single woman.

Supposedly, 300 people had signed up to make a public comment. I wondered how many were pro-life and how many were pro-choice. While I saw numerous pro-choice posters declaring “hands off our bodies” and “abortion is healthcare,” there were a concerning amount of shirts with Jesus or la Virgencita and some pro-life slogans on them. 

It wasn’t even half an hour before public comments were being heard. The first speaker, a man from a church group, said he was “in shock how many people are so enamored with the killing of life in the womb of a mother.” After he spoke, people from all sides of the room booed him, loudly scoffing at what they considered lies. Mayor Richard Molina told the public to be respectful, that everyone would get a chance to speak. 

More scoffs could be heard. 

The next three speakers were also pro-life, promising votes to electoral officials who protect “the unborn,” community support for mothers and eternal damnation for sinners that get an abortion and do not repent. 

Finally, the fifth speaker, the executive director of Frontera Fund, was against the ordinance. As Zaena Zamora explained, Frontera Fund, a local non-profit organization helps the Rio Grande Valley community with abortion access and care. 

Zamora emphasized that 78% of their callers are parents, people who already have children, but her argument focused on how the ordinance would have an extremely negative effect on Edinburg residents’ health. The ordinance would not have allowed exceptions for rape or incest, and “this one-size-for-all approach” was irresponsible. 

The proposed ordinance would have also made it “unlawful” to assist another person receive abortion access. As pro-choice supporters waved their posters and clapped, Zamora announced the ordinance was a way to scare not only pregnant people who need an abortion but also anyone who would otherwise be willing to assist them. 

Speakers were limited to three minutes each, but many of them passed it and needed to be approached by security or other officials, including Zamora. As an official came up to her, she yelled, “No matter what happens here today, Frontera Fund is going to fight to keep abortion legal.” While pro-lifer supporters shook their heads, the pro-choice supporters could not reign in their proudness. They hollered as loudly as they could to show Zamora she had been heard. Fists shot up in solidarity, including mine. 

That night, 50 people approached the podium to speak on their stance regarding the ordinance. Another 15 comments were submitted virtually, and 25 were sent to the city secretary, according to Trucha RGV.

Whether those people were for or against the ban, it took immense courage to speak. Regardless of what side they were on, they were going to get criticized for it. 

Yet it must be noted that out of those 65 public spoken and written comments, only 12 people were in favor of the ordinance, in favor of banning abortion in the City of Edinburg. Fifty-three people were against it, choosing reproductive freedom. 

Around 10 p.m. it was clear the city council members had sided with the 53 people against the ban since they had not made a motion to vote upon the ordinance.

This did not come without cost, though. 

For many of those 53 people, it required complete vulnerability. 

The speaker after Zamora, a woman who said she wasn’t representing any group but was an Edinburg resident, revealed she had been raped by her father for the first 12 years of her life.

“Thank goodness I didn’t get pregnant, but if I did, I should have the choice to abort because I would not raise my brother-son or my sister-daughter,” she said. 

When she was a young adult, the woman was in an abusive relationship. Her partner raped her, and that time, she did get pregnant with a son. She didn’t have the means to care for her baby. She had to live in her car, unable to bathe the baby until he was a month old. Her only option was to give him up for adoption.

“I will grieve for the rest of my life. I will miss every birthday. I missed when my son walked for the first time, and I miss every Christmas.” She shakes her head, “Because the people that are here preaching ‘we’ll help you, we’ll help you with the baby,’ nobody was there for me.” 

As she finished talking about her traumatic experience, pro-choice supporters clapped softly. It was heartbreaking to hear, especially in her calm, unwavering voice. I know because my heart felt shattered. Here was this woman who had endured so much and wanted to prevent that same cycle from happening to others. Her last statement was to the mayor to think about the little girls who are in the same situation she had been through. While she had been able to overcome the experience–now a mother with other children– not everybody else can.  

In an effort to reason with the city council, this woman and other survivors, had to relive their trauma in front of hundreds of others with many of them scornful and full of judgement. 

The night was full of powerful testimonies. Many people were unafraid to call the ordinance “absolutely disgusting and immoral,” provided scientific data to back up their stance, as well as quote the city charter to declare the ordinance unconstitutional and tell the mayor to worry about his allegations of voter fraud instead.

Organizations, such as the Lilith Fund, RGV Safe Project, South Texans for Reproductive Justice, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, Jane’s Due Process, each provided a comment that proved their loyalty to fighting for safe and legal abortions.

As a student of the university that contributes to Edinburg’s economy, I had a right to be concerned about this ordinance. Although there is no abortion access center in Edinburg, the council felt there was a need to discuss an unnecessary limtitation on reproductive freedom. 

I will always remember that night. Not because of the mayor’s constant phone checking–which has become a joke online–or because of the constant hushing from each side. I will remember it as the night an entire community in the Valley came together to oppose this awful ban. I will remember the testimonies that must have pained the speakers to say; the woman around my age who said when she looks at the city council, she sees nobody that looks like her; the activist who demanded attention to the city’s poor infrastructure rather than this pointless ordinance; the older woman who wore a mask with the bisexual colors and stood with a poster that said “WOMEN MATTER.”

Let us hope other city councils take note about this memorable night. For if they also attempt assaults on our bodies, I have complete faith the community will once again show up and prove the Valley cares about its reproductive rights. 

A view from the outside: (Bianca) 

The morning started off like any other, I unlocked my phone in the early summer morning. The first thing I did: check my social media of course. Suddenly, a sick feeling of disappointment and rage jumped out at me. 

Why? Post after post on all platforms from Instagram to Twitter, discussed the abortion ordinance taking place in Edinburg; the call to proclaim our small university town as a sanctuary city, one of 30 cities in the United States. 

As an 18-year-old female student, the anger I felt reading through the proposed proclamation by the Holy Family Pro-life Apostolate was unmathced. This was a call to action ensuring that the cases of legalized abortion be cut down to none. How can this happen? A radical religious organization convincing an all male city council to not just control, but completely outlaw a woman’s right, a woman’s choice. 

After hearing about the ordinance, I made sure to remain updated on all of my social media accounts and platforms. I was following on the outside, reading and hoping that someone would post that suddenly the idea was dropped. It would be naive to imagine that they switch their attention to something more important. Such as the sudden rise of COVID-19 cases, or focus on the return to in-person schooling. 

Nonetheless, more of my family and friends learned about this proposed ordinance upbringing debate and confusion in the majority of my conversations. I received text messages from friends saying, “Did you read it? Did you read all of it?” 

From there on, I started to read every article, and every post available. I told myself to digest every detail. What I had missed at first glance, was the fine that would be placed on anyone that aided or knew about the abortion. This to me seemed like the demolition of a community. In a time when we should be helping each other, rebuilding and working together. 

At this moment in time, I felt this was the last thing we needed. After two days of debate and what seemed like thousands of social media posts later, the ordinance was finally dropped. 

Although this can be seen as a win, it was a win that came with a cost. During the public hearing, two women gave powerful speeches, touching on their own experiences with abuse and sexual assault.  Is this what it takes? Reading about women telling their horrors. Strong women BLANK with men. Men who are too preoccupied to look up from their phones, to look up and say “I hear you.”