OC professors review Dobbs case
Jul. 28—A review of U.S. Supreme Court cases, mainly focusing on the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v Wade, was the focus of Order in the Court, a panel discussion hosted at Odessa College Thursday.
The event was held in the Zant Community Room at the Saulsbury Campus Center at OC and was also livestreamed. Panelists included Daniel Regalado, professor of government and history, Janice Hicks, vice president for Institutional Effectiveness, Timothy Clark, professor of communications, Autumn Zimmerman, professor of history, and retired professor of government and history Glen Findley.
Zimmerman summarized the history of the Supreme Court and reviewed the pertinent cases.
Regalado said Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization ruled that abortion is not a constitutional right guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, and instead the states should decide if it is legal.
"... Where it came from was (that) Mississippi had passed a state law that basically banned abortions after 15 weeks. This was questioned in regard to the constitutionality of it. It went up to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court ... basically said we're going to stay neutral and we're going let the states decide on this matter," Regalado said.
"Now in regards to Texas, Texas law right now has banned abortion. But Texas does have an exemption if a woman's life's in danger ...," he added.
Clark said according to the latest data from Pew Research, 61% of Americans support Roe v Wade, but that is constantly changing. He noted that there is tons of research going on right now and surveys going out.
"... When we're talking about the number of U.S. adults who say abortion should be illegal versus legal, 61% as of 2022 started July, were in favor of it being legal, while 37% were in the illegal in all cases or in most cases camp. When we talk specifically about the decision to overturn Roe v Wade, this data comes directly from Pew Research ...," Clark said.
When it comes down to those that were married or living with their partner, 59% think that it should be legal and 67 percent of those that were not married or not living with a partner think that it should be legal in most cases, Clark said.
Confidence in the Supreme Court as of 2022 is at an all-time low with 25% having confidence in it.
According to data for Texas from the Texas Department of Health and Human Services in 2021, there were 50,532 induced terminations of pregnancy.
"... What's important to notice is the majority of these are occurring between the ages of 20 and 29. You can see on here one at 11 years or less. ... The majority of those that had an induced termination of pregnancy were unmarried," Clark said.
The majority of those who terminated a pregnancy were Hispanic, which was not surprising to him because the majority of Texans are Hispanic, he said.
"I did find it interesting to include in here based on what we're talking about those that had a procedure done in a medical place, 50,532 survived the process. Zero did not survive; so nobody passed away from having this operation done in a medical facility," Clark said.
The majority of the procedures for Texas residents happened at eight weeks or less, Clark said.
"The biggest year to year decrease in abortions occurred in 2014. This is when the law went into place in Texas (that) required doctors performing an abortion to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion facility. There was quite a bit of a drop from 2000 to 2014 ...," Clark said.
Hicks said listening to the discussion, people were probably experiencing a lot of different emotions. She noted that the conversation was nonpartisan and they were not sharing their opinions.
"... We've been in a pandemic for two and a half years, so the pandemic has brought on this mental health crisis," Hicks said.
People may be experiencing feelings of anxiety, isolation, or depression.
"... The fact that this case and the overturning of this case comes during the pandemic, I think that just exacerbates the mental health crisis that we have already been in. I'm glad that mental health is a part of this conversation because we as people have to normalize what that means and really consider our psychological well-being ...," Hicks said.
"From a mental health perspective, I would encourage you, your students, wherever you are in the community to really take stock. If people are reacting strongly to cases like this, that's okay. That's normal. If you're a student here, we have free therapy, free counseling. If you're a community member, we have a licensed social worker. You can come and you can learn about the resources that we offer, but do not isolate yourself. We've learned during this pandemic that isolation only leads to poor outcomes in regards to our mental health," Hicks added.
She said people can turn off the news and social media for peace of mind.
Clark, who teaches a course in media literacy, said people are bombarded with stories on social media. He tells students to look past the headlines and find out the source of the story.
"... There are some great websites out there ... AP Factcheck has an amazing Twitter, Factcheck.org, even Snopes. ... (The) Washington Post has a great fact checker. Then on the political side, PolitiFact also has a really, really good fact checker," Clark said.
