The Supreme Court revisited Roe v. Wade, a major abortion case, to discuss the Texas law on banning abortion on Nov. 1. 

The Court ruled a 5-to-4 decision to keep the abortion ban, but it has opened the discussion again and there’s a member of the court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who may potentially change his vote. 

Roe v. Wade was the original Texas abortion case in which Roe v. Wade argued only allowing abortions to save a woman’s life is unconstitutional. She claimed it was against the 1st, 4th, 5th, 9th and 14th amendment and ended up gaining protection of the women’s right to an abortion, with exceptions. 

Texas’ current abortion ban, Senate Bill 8, almost completely bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. There is currently no exception for rape or incest. The law allows for citizens to sue those who violate it and the prosecutor would earn $10,000 per illegal abortion in court. 

“An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy,” Hannah Murray, sophomore Medical Academy student, said. 

Peyton Ellis is a Jupiter Medical Center Academy Coordinator and Anatomy, Physiology and Biology teacher. She explains there are different ways to have an abortion. 

“If it’s within the first 10 weeks, an abortion pill can be taken. Otherwise, they will have to perform a vacuum aspiration in which they apply a local anesthetic and basically use a suction device to remove the fetus/embryo,” Ellis said. “If these methods aren’t an option due to how far along the female is, they may do more invasive surgeries or induce labor.”

Only the first option is applicable for Texas because after six weeks abortions are illegal. There could be a number of reasons for a women to have an abortion. 

“Some women simply aren’t emotionally ready for a child, the child may have been conceived through rape, or they can’t financially afford the pregnancy, birth and life of a child,” Ellis said. “Beyond personal reasons, an abortion may be due to the medical advice of a doctor. The fetus may not make it full term or the fetus may have physical or mental abnormalities.”

Ellis said abortions may cause the mother emotional or psychological stress. 

“Of course, with any medical procedure there are risks involved, so depending on the type of abortion, there may be side effects as well,” Ellis said. 

Dagen Taylor, president of Women Empowerment Club at Jupiter High, sees the ban as a violation of rights.

“In all honesty, I believe Texas has created the abortion ban in order to control women’s rights and to solidify Conservative votes,” Taylor said. 

Some students believe the vote just depended on political parties. 

“I think Texas is a very Republican state and Republicans are generally against abortion,” Nicholas Holloway, sophomore, said. 

Students agree Texas is more of a right leaning and religious state. 

“They are super Catholic and Catholics don’t believe in abortion,” Daniel Aguire, sophomore, said. 

The opinions of the students go beyond just the Texas laws and discuss abortions as a whole and the morality of it. 

“I think Republicans believe that babies, even when they are just fetuses, are still a life and they believe you shouldn’t take that life,” Holloway said. 

“Pro-lifers” is the name given throughout social media to those who openly do not support abortions and fight for the fetus’ life.  

“Pro-lifers do not want babies to die,” Luke Greendale, sophomore, said. 

Colin Snowney, sophomore, explained he is torn on the topic of abortion.

“I don’t think it should be allowed, but it is tricky because when it comes to people who didn’t want to have a child and they were raped or forced to it’s not really their fault, and I guess they should have the choice, but it’s not really morally correct,” Snowney, said. 

Students have expressed their opinions against the abortion ban. 

“I think there are a lot of cases where it should be legal because you never know what happened and saying that it is illegal to all people no matter what is, in my personal opinion, unfair,” Naya Shachar, sophomore, said. 

Banning abortions can lead to women seeking unsafe methods in order to terminate their pregnancies. 

“The mental health of a female can impact the overall health of the fetus/baby. Poor mental health of the mother can harm the growth of the fetus/baby and be dangerous to the mother’s health,” Ellis said. 

Texas must be cautious on the effects this ban could have on women. 

“I think women in dangerous situations and women who are already vulnerable financially, emotionally and physically are the most affected by this ban,” Taylor said. “I believe the court should uphold Roe v. Wade. Texas should not be enacting laws that put women in danger physically and financially.”