A report released today from the Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health shows that states with the highest number of anti-abortion restrictions—including Texas—performed the worst on evidence-based measures of women’s and children’s health. Though the fallout from House Bill 2 and its predecessors exposed the fallacy of anti-abortion politicians’ health and safety justification for these laws, this new research proves that lawmakers who pass laws restricting abortion access are not concerned with promoting women’s and children’s health. In fact, these politicians are doing the opposite. Texas ranked among the states with the worst overall well-being score.

“Texas State Representative Jodie Laubenberg and author of HB2 celebrated the passage of the bill saying that she was “proud of the step we've taken to protect both babies and women.”  Since the passage of the bill, the number of health clinics that provide abortion care in Texas have decreased by half, and the number of women living more than 200 miles from a clinic has grown from 10,000 to a shocking 290,000. Meanwhile, Texas performs poorly across indicators of women’s health, children’s health, social determinants of health, and policies supportive of women’s and children’s well-being.”

Interestingly, the report found a strong relationship between abortion restrictions and children’s health, stronger than that between abortion restrictions and women’s health. Texas tied for lowest children’s health score, meeting none of the 15 benchmarks on children’s health outcomes.

“We know that legislators who seek to close down clinics, make women feel guilty or stigmatized for their reproductive choices, and force doctors to practice medicine in ways that conflict with their own evidence-based experience and medical judgment, cannot honestly claim to own the mantle of women’s health and safety.”

Extremist anti-abortion politicians did not design HB2 to protect women's health and safety, but to eliminate access to safe and legal abortions across the state. Sign our petition and let these politicians that passed HB2 know you won't be lied to. It's time to fight back.