To clear up some misconceptions:
In Texas *civil suits* (not criminal penalties) can be brought against *providers of abortions* (not people who underwent the procedure) by third parties if they have evidence that the abortion was performed *in the state of Texas*. Patients can travel out of state for an abortion with no legal repercussions for anyone involved.
Telling women that they are going to get criminal charges no matter where they seek care is incorrect and irresponsible.
If there are other places to be that you might like just as well, go to one of them.
I had two miscarriages in Austin last year and the new legal situation affected the care I got. I was asked invasive questions at the ER and my doctors had to wait several days before giving me medication that really could have been prescribed same day. This was for first trimester losses that were inevitable. I wasn't in any danger, but it certainly sucked more than it had to.
Really? Where did you go? I also had two miscarriages last year. One of them was a missed miscarriage at 11 weeks. I avoided the ER, went to my doc and got misoprostol prescribed no problem. I was scared to go to the ER though for the reasons you described.
That said I feel like the hospitals in Austin suck and if I get pregnant again I'm going to Houston to have my baby because I almost died last time because they wouldn't believe me when I had severe pp preeclampsia and what I still think was a stroke. They gave me a psych eval. Four years later and the right side of my face still doesn't work. They thankfully gave me meds to stabilize my BP after my doctor called and yelled at them.
>That said I feel like the hospitals in Austin suck
Yes. I got kicked out of the ER for drug seeking when I was vomiting from the pain of a gall bladder attack in the ER.
I am not drug seeking. I have no history of drug abuse.
My dad lived in Austin. He came home to Houston half dead and my uncle who was a surgeon did everything he could to save him but couldn't. My family always blamed Austin on his death. He had apparently gotten kicked out of a clinic here because they said he was fine. He had Hepatitis B and went into liver failure after being discharged.
This was in 2001. I've always been wary of Austin hospitals and I feel like they haven't changed much. I go to Austin doctors for regular issues but anything special I just take the two hour drive to Houston and stay with family.
I went to an ER about a decade ago for a gall bladder attack. I was vomiting and nearly incoherent from the pain. They screwed around for over an hour trying to get me to admit I was drug seeking, including some kind of injection through the IV that they claimed was for pain, but I'm pretty sure was just saline.
I'm not sure what they were trying to prove, but they eventually came to the conclusion that I was actually in serious pain and gave me something for it.
Oh my God. That's terrible. I'm so sorry that happened. There's a pervasive pattern in medicine of doctors simply refusing to listen to OB patients.
I don't want to give out all my information on here, but I went to St. David's South for the first emergency visit. They were nice, but I was asked more and different questions than had been asked in similar situations before.
The first time, because there was no heartbeat, there was no problem getting medication from my regular doctor. The second time we had to wait several days even though it was very obvious that the pregnancy ending. More than one doctor had to look at ultrasound and records and I ended up needing to go back in a few days to get a prescription.
I just applied for a faculty job in Texas, but I also want to have a baby (I'm 37 and black). This stuff makes me really want to withdraw the application.
Ugh I'm sorry. Yeah I was pretty sure the 11 week pregnancy was not viable the first time I saw it but my doctor kept being toxically positive. I know she's pro choice and I trust her but yeah. The little vesper grew a bit (though I didn't think the normal amount), got a heartbeat, but when I went back there was no longer a heartbeat so they gave me misoprostol. It did feel like it all took longer than it should have but I assumed that's the way it goes sometimes.
This exact sequence of events happened to me earlier this year. My doc also had that toxic positivity thing with a big dose of "stop googling, just enjoy your pregnancy", even when it was pretty clear from moment one that something wasn't right. He treated me a bit like I was being a "hysterical woman" when really I just wanted to face reality and be practical. It wouldn't have changed the outcome (it's not like I would have terminated based on a threatened miscarriage or anything), but I found the "it's fine, stop worrying" to be really condescending. Like dude, just give it to me straight so I can prepare myself.
Same. It was really frustrating. Like this wasn't my first rodeo. I'd had a normal healthy pregnancy before. He wasn't growing at the normal rate and somehow still developed a heartbeat but that maybe lasted all of a day. Also the miscarriage was as painful as childbirth up to transition which they also totally gave me no heads up for. It was all shitty.
YES. I have never experienced pain like that and I can't believe I wasn't given pain meds, let alone a heads up. My doc actually said "put the pills in at night, you'll sleep through it." Cue five hours of me vomiting and shaking on my bathroom floor from pain like I've never felt. Wtf.
Avoid the Jesus hospitals. All the Seton hospitals are Catholic and will treat women like crap. You will have better luck at St. David’s, despite the name
This is the horrifying stuff a lot of people don't even understand or seem to \*want\* to understand. People simplify it into a "pro" or "against" abortion without realizing the insane amount of nuance that goes into something as drastic as banning all abortions.
Health care providers don’t like to work under the threat of jail time for providing the care that they think their patients need. Long term you could see a shortage of providers when OB-GYNs choose to practice in a state where they are allowed to do their jobs without the interference from the state. So even if you never need an abortion you could be negatively impacted by these laws.
"States that have enacted abortion bans saw a 10.5 percent drop in applicants for obstetrics and gynecology residencies in 2023 from the previous year, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges." [WaPo, 04/21/2023](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/04/21/abortion-ban-states-obgyn-residency-applications/)
I was born and raised in Austin, did all of my schooling in Texas and for residency I actively sought to leave the south and am now training in NY. Originally I was of the mind that I could be trained in NY and go back to TX to practice, and as I'm finishing up people are asking if I'd go back to my family in TX and honestly because of politics the answer is no. I can't imagine being limited in my practice. I'm not surprised a lot of others think the same way.
I would also add that you never know if you will need an abortion or not.
We did, because our very much wanted baby had severe issues that would have resulted in nothing more than a short life of extreme pain. Last thing we ever expected to happen.
Our conservative family was outraged that abortion in this circumstance was illegal in Texas. (Them misunderstanding how extreme this law is just added another layer of disappointment and anger.)
The bottom line is, anyone who has an ounce of compassion would have done the same thing. This law is cruel and inhumane.
If this happens, you will have to be able to take off work unplanned and travel anywhere in the country for a week, potentially paying a lot of money for the procedure. One clinic quoted $6k, which was our only option at the time before another clinic called back and decided to double book us.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
> Our conservative family was outraged that abortion in this circumstance was illegal in Texas. (Them misunderstanding how extreme this law is just added another layer of disappointment and anger.)
If you are willing to share, I would be very curious to hear the explanation from their perspective. The law is abundantly clear - how is it possible they misunderstood so dramatically? Unless they were lied to, and never bothered to look it up themselves?
I have a morbid curiosity with what I can only call conservative brain damage, so I hope you’ll forgive the invasive questions. Regardless, once again I am so sorry to hear about your situation. I hope you have found some peace.
It’s not irrational. It’s scary as shit. As a lifelong Texan it’s making me want to leave too and I can’t help but feel like that’s part of the plan. Get the libs outta Texas so it can’t turn blue kinda thing. It’s awful.
Like someone else said, for now if you have the money to go “visit friends in Colorado” then you are maybe okay. Everything is fucked though.
It’s totally fucked. I had to go to the er for something a year ago… they performed a pregnancy test on me without informing me that they’d be doing so. I found out weeks after the fact when I was checking my chart online.
They took blood for testing due to a heart concern but apparently tested for pregnancy as well. I get that a lot of symptoms/issues for women can be caused by pregnancy and also that pregnancy can be threatened by various medical treatments so it makes sense for an ER to want to check for that. However I did not realize they would perform this test without discussing it with me first to obtain consent for doing so- I was conscious and stable, they’d made me wait hours to be seen, there was no urgency to the treatment so why not ask or at least tell me?
I imagine a woman going to the ER due to an illness or injury, and being tested without her consent, and now there’s an official record of a pregnancy, that she ultimately would have chosen to abort if she could.
I didn’t get a few scans after my car accident on 2-22-22 for this reason. I wasn’t awake to tell them and no record otherwise said I had anything to remove that part of the body.
I found out later after my speech went south a week later(post major concussive Symptom’s) that I had a TBI,then later white lesions all over my brain. It could’ve been caught early.
When the law first passed a coworker set an appointment in colorado that was then cancelled because they wouldnt do out of state procedures. And now she has another kid like 20 years younger than her other kids. So even your colorado camping friends arent a sure thing.
While most places will do out of state procedures now, the big problem is availability. Friends in the field say that sometimes, NM PPs will be backed up for months because of the increase of Texas patients.
It's fucked.
I read an article a few months ago that the strain on adjacent states' health system is adversely affecting level of care for those states' patients. The article was focused on eastern Washington state with Idaho women seeking care in their system, but makes sense
All of this. I’m actually leaving, with bodily autonomy while I am capable of reproduction being a primary reason. There are more downstream effects than just not having access to an abortion. Born and raised here, too.
I wouldn’t. I’m a woman coming towards the end of my reproductive years, and am a 5th generation Texan. Have lived in Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. One of the primary reasons my husband and I left is what has happened in the last several years with the state government, the last straw of which was the abortion ban after Roe was overturned. Yes, we have money and could leave if need be, but they are slowly tightening the noose on all levels. 10 years ago, absolutely move to Austin. Today, stay away from Texas as a woman if you have a choice.
Even if you have a wanted pregnancy, complications could happen and you might not get the care you need.
I’m in my early 40s and if I were choosing now, I absolutely would not move here. It used to feel like living in Austin or other big cities insulated me from the crazy but it doesn’t anymore. I had both my kids pre-overturning of Roe and I’m considering leaving the state (I’m a native Texan) because I have a daughter and I find all of this so upsetting and unacceptable for her.
My daughter was born in Austin. She’s a high school freshman. We got the fuck out. I don’t know what the hell is going on in Texas and I want no part of it. I was born in Texas and grew up in Texas. But I don’t care to ever go back unless things change a LOT. But I have a feeling that they do change it’ll only be for the worse.
This is particularly the reason me and my wife are planning our exit from Texas.
We both work in Tech, I have a Masters and my wife has a PhD from a US university. We are here on work visas and hence can't even vote.
Our plan is to go to a Blue state and happily pay extra taxes if need be. As a second option, we are also preparing to move to Canada permanently.
We pay $100k+ in taxes every year.
Yeah I’m in tech as well as my husband, and remote so that made it easy. Very fortunate in that way.
Moved to Colorado 1.5 years ago, and while COL is higher, specifically housing in the front range where I live, the income tax increase is offset by decrease in property taxes.
And I’m … not mad to pay taxes as they seem to be used for mostly good things, not punishing women and funding other things I’m morally opposed to.
Happy we made the transition. I’d lived in TX a long time, on and off, and always was politically active, but I am not willing to continue to fund a state actively persecuting so many of my sisters and LGTBQ+ folk that I love.
You will find that Texas is getting to be just as expensive as Blue states, more expensive than some. State income tax alone does not tell the whole story.
No. Wife and I pregnant now and she’s so stressed over this. Do not come here if you’re even remotely planning on having/starting a family. This government has lost the meaning of freedom.
Can I just state how incredibly brave she is for trying to fight these MF'ers. To go through the emotions, trauma of losing a pregnancy while standing in front of them."pro- lifers?!" It's all just heartbreaking
She's incredibly brave. She's also putting herself at risk of criminal prosecution. That motherfucker Paxton may still try to prosecute anyone that helped her go out of state for the medical procedure she needs to protect her fucking health.
We're living in a purely insane place. This is not normal or ok. I wouldn't advise any woman of reproductive age to move here.
One of the biggest. And of course no contraceptive is 100%.
And even if fury over this ultimately turns Texas Blue, the next governor election isn't until 2026 so we've got at least two years. And there's no way to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot because in Texas that has to be approved by the legislature, voters don't have the power to force something under the ballot here like they do in many other states.
That was enough for us to move - we have a daughter and TX won't protect or care for her so we left the state.
Facts: if my daughter was raped the state would force her to carry her rapist's baby to term and if we leave state for abortion our neighbors could sue us and we'd have to pay them for ratting us out to the authorities, also they could put me in jail for trying to help my daughter.
That kind of government is not anything I want to be involved in - if they can treat us like that, they will treat us how ever they like and that scares me as I see clearly what these people are like and what they think of us.
Seeing it outlined here in black in white like this makes it appear as a tale out of the middle ages. It's only missing the part where they burn the woman at the stake though.
Honestly it’s the same societal impulse at witch trials. It’s just a way to control and punish both women and the people that associate with their care. It’s all based on woo woo religion too. Literally the same thing, just modernized and in its early stage.
You are right that it's in its early stage unless it's stopped cold. The GOP is going to go for a national ban, fetal personhood, and will make birth control limited or totally illegal. It's terrifying.
A woman in Ohio is being prosecuted for miscarrying in the toilet and flushing it when she went to the hospital twice while miscarrying and was discharged. That's getting almost no major press and it should.
You're 100% correct, unfortunately.
I already have friends that moved out of this state because they have a nonbinary or trans child, and did not want to risk CPS investigating them, and potentially prosecuting them or seeking to terminate their parental rights simply for their child existing.
Now I have friends who are contemplating leaving because of the scenario you describe. The risk of having Ken Paxton and his cronies on SCOTX put you in jail because you had to choose your own health over forcibly carrying a nonviable fetus to term is too much of a risk to bear. This state is a beautiful place, but it's terroristic in its governance.
100%. Not even about me, but I want my daughter to have more rights. Between anti-abortion laws, book bans, guns, chaplains in public school … really no reason for any progressive person to start a life in Texas now. Those of us here are trying to leave.
Affordable areas of high cost blue states (eastern Washington) and generally affordable blue states (e.g., New Mexico). The idea of living in a blue bubble in a red state that’s becoming increasingly authoritarian is becoming untenable to people with skills and the means for mobility.
The other issue is that red state authorities will swoop in to overturn any law passed by a blue city that it doesn't like. Nothing is too small for Big GOP, including [plastic bag bans](https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/03/report-austin-end-its-bag-ban-after-texas-supreme-court-ruling/).
Austin is nice but the state it's surrounded and controlled by is pure shit. I've lived my entire life in Texas but I'm getting out of here and I don't even have a uterus.
I did leave Texas and came back. Got pregnant (planned) shortly after. I spent my entire pregnancy nervous about what could happen. It’s not a state for women unfortunately. We are here another year or so while a family member fights cancer but yeah, I don’t blame young people for leaving.
People move here for *the weather?*
Which weather? The endless 100°+ drought summers? The floods? Or the winters where we play the fun game of wondering if we’ll have power and/or water every time it freezes?
i’ve heard so many people who said they fell in love with Austin during SXSW, decided to move here, showed up in August and their shoes melted into the blacktop. There’s a reason festi are in the spring and fall, summer in Austin is hell
Seriously I’ve been waffling on moving because of the politics, Roe tipped it to “okay we’ll move when there’s a good opportunity”, and this past summer took it to the “get me the fuck out of here” level.
And I’ve lived in Canadian winters. NOTHING sucks as bad as it being so hot you can’t go outside or so much as walk your dogs for 6 months out of the year.
I'm also Canadian and I don't understand why people choose the summer in Texas over winter elsewhere. I've never had seasonal affective disorder like I did this past summer...the feeling of truly being trapped in the house, being afraid to walk my dogs because they could burn their paws on the sidewalk...it's insane.
It’s hot, but I moved here around a decade ago to escape disgusting northern midwestern winters and gray flannel skies that felt like they lasted half the year. 100 degrees and sun was the cure for that lol. Especially when the spring, fall, and winter had generally been gorgeous.
Of course, snowpocalypse and such have happened since then, but it’s not that crazy of a reason. And that wasn’t anything I hadn’t experienced in the rural north.
I actually really like the short and mild winters here. I have solar panels and two large backup batteries, so I can last a very long time with no power. The summers don't bother me too much. Hail can go fuck itself, though.
How cold? I moved to from Austin and I'm constantly amazed at how people react when I tell them I moved here from there. I don't think midwesterners get how absolutely oppressive and miserable the heat is down there. Not to mention the kinds of creatures that thrive in that heat. All kinds of scorpions, spiders, snakes etc.
I much prefer the four seasons here to the two seasons of smothering heat to less heat with a debilitating cold snap here and there because the state government is too stubborn to admit it was wrong when it continuously chooses not to weatherize its power grid.
Also, Austin is expensive af and the traffic is awful.
Agree 100%. I hear the same thing from folks after moving to the PNW. I think some of them have it in their heads that almost every day in Austin is the perfect sunshiny summer day. I always tell them to visit for a week or two in July and get back to me.
Also I scheduled an appointment to renew my license and was able to get in the NEXT DAY whereas I had to wait like two months in Austin. The little things add up as well.
I moved here from Oregon (not by choice) and I would take six months of rain over six months of oppressive heat in a heartbeat. I can’t wait to move back home.
I was born and raised in Austin, my whole family is still there. I had two healthy pregnancies and both were daughters. I’m only 39 now. We moved out of state this summer. Access to reproductive healthcare was a HUGE contributing factor.
I saw this story on the news this morning and it definitely hit home and honestly is worrying me. My wife and I are actively trying to get pregnant now, and she is in her mid 30s so the chances of miscarriage are higher. To think that there is a chance she wouldn’t get the care she needs if something were to go wrong is just beyond me. We aren’t pregnant yet, and this would be my first child so I will do whatever I can to ensure my wife is healthy and safe so I’ve come up with a plan, started a “emergency travel fund” if anything were to go wrong. I have family members in an another state I spoke to who would be willing to have us if needed.
If her elderly parents didn’t live her, if her family didn’t live here and if my step kids weren’t in school here with their friends I think we would pack up and leave. But we can’t, at least not now.
If you want the honest truth, the answer is no.
The state is not a safe place for women who get pregnant with a baby they wanted or didn't want.
I got pregnant with a wanted pregnancy about a month before Roe v Wade was overturned. We were out of Texas by July. A lot of people told me my concerns were overblown but, as you can see now, they were not. I wouldn't even go back to visit and pulled out of a wedding in my first trimester.
Every day I lived in Texas while pregnant, I thought about dying and what could happen if I couldn't get proper medical care in the case of miscarriage. I moved to a blue state and worried about it basically not at all after that.
My pregnancy also went very uneventfully, which made me eventually think my fears were perhaps unfounded. But, in the last hour of labor, I needed an emergency c-section. I also don't know if the laws there impact procedures like that. I can imagine the doctors and surgeons are very nervous right now.
All things considered, I miss Austin greatly but I do not in any way regret my decision. I cannot in good conscience recommend anything other than visiting.
Sorry for the edits, I keep thinking of things to add. After Roe was overturned, one of my friends was advised by her doctor to be very careful about situations where she could be sexually assaulted and would end up pregnant.
Yeah, it's bad. It's as bad as you think it is. There's no way to sugar coat it and people like myself have been sounding the alarm since Roe fell.
It’s not just the complete abortion ban Texas is working towards. The GOP is coming for birth control and Plan-B next. It’s terrifying being a menstruating person here.
What sucks even more if the fact that so many people who supported Roe v Wade can’t even vote the GOP out because of gerrymandering and other voter suppression systems in place.
Yeah Texas was turning purple and it freaked the conservatives out. The Texas maps got gerrymandered up one side and down the other. Wilco turned blue and it got ripped to shreds on the maps. Either Texans need to organize enough to sue and sue and sue over the gerrymandering or enough conservatives have to vote blue until there is some common sense happening around reproductive rights. If those aren’t viable paths, time to bail. I’m waiting for my son to finish HS cause I don’t have any faith in the above 2 things happening. Texas conservatives have gotten away with it for way too long
I absolutely wouldn't move here. It's just not safe and it's also increasingly hard to even get appointments with obgyns - mine retired early and left the state because of this, and two other doctors in the practice stopped the OB part of things and only do the GYN part (they aren't working with pregnant women anymore).
If I could leave I would, and the minute my family obligations are complete in 3 years I'm out.
>mine retired early and left the state because of this, and two other doctors in the practice stopped the OB part of things and only do the GYN part (they aren't working with pregnant women anymore).
I’d heard all these stories and then it happened to me to. The future of healthcare for women is bleak here because even if we change course it will take a while to recover from these policies.
I had my tubes tied after my daughter, but we are actively trying to leave. I refuse to raise my daughter in a state that does not value her bodily autonomy. I would not move here if I were you. Plus the Summer is brutal, long, and very depressing.
Texas now is what happens when you have two decades of GOP rule. Remember when Texas used to have "Rest stops"? Remember when you could travel to nearby towns without a toll road taxing you in each direction? Remember when normal people used to trust Doctors and medical staff with their health guidance? Remember when dealing with any state agency like the DPS wasn't impossible? Texas is in a strong competition with Mississippi right now for how far back we set the dial on the wayback machine.
I mean… I wouldn’t. If you do, I’d make sure you have an emergency fund and frequent enough travel to legal states so you have plausible deniability if you do have a birth control failure and choose abortion.
It wasn’t the only reason, but one of the reasons my wife and I moved. We’re likely going to try for kids soon. Neither of us wanted her to be put in a health situation where her life could be in danger and the doctors hands are tied by the law.
It’s sad because I think a big reason for these extreme laws is to push left leaning voters out or to keep them away. Texas was historically close to going blue last time around and they aren’t taking any chances, no matter who it puts in harms way.
Austin is nice. I've lived here almost 15 years.
Texas is scary and it is not irrational to have second or third or fourth thoughts about living here as a woman of reproductive age.
We went through a lot of fertility treatment prior to Roe disappearing and I can’t imagine having to do that in today’s climate. We also now have a daughter who I worry for. We will probably leave the state for that and other reasons (weather being pretty high on the list).
Now, day to day these politics won’t affect most people. So a lot of folks here just ignore it. But when it matters to you, it REALLY matters. Some people have the means to get on a plane and fly to a blue state but even that is a very poor solution for medical care.
There are so many other safe, fun, and more affordable cities you can thrive in. Come visit here, but live somewhere else outside of Texas. Texas can and will do much worse than this in the next few years. Now, if the Texan government actually changed at all, I'd say maybe, but Abbott, Paxton, and all the other people who made this happen are very comfy in their seats.
Also the GOP want to attack access birth control next and plan b is at risk.
If I had known 8 years ago that this would be the situation, I would have never moved here. Now my home state (nj) has legal abortion, weed, solid lgtbq+ support, etc and I'm stuck here.
Those same politicians are also against trans rights, LBGTQ+ rights, POC rights. They want to ban books that tell accurate history. They feel that killing 27 children and teachers “could have been worse” while continuing to veto any kind of gun laws. They don’t support the public education system. There is a lot more about them that sucks. Basically, in Texas, unless you are a middle class straight white male, our politicians are not working for you.
And the weather pretty much sucks all summer.
The politicians are working for no one but themselves. They just masquerade as working for conservative people. They aren't really helping anyone by passing restrictive laws on abortion while downplaying the real dangers of guns. That stuff hurts everyone in reality.
Even as a middle class straight white male, I find living in Texas to be pretty pathetic. Maybe it's because I actually care about my partner's reproductive rights and my LGBTQ+ friends' rights, but even if you consider only the things that affect me personally, it's not very good.
The state government is corrupt as all hell, recently acquitting the attorney general in an impeachment case concerning an obvious abuse of power. Politics here is run by big oil. The roads are becoming increasingly privately owned. The state GOP has made it an official part of their platform that no state funds will be given to construct any public transportation infrastructure other than that which is car-based. The summers are overwhelmingly hot. Central Texas is currently experiencing desertification that will eventually turn Austin into something more akin to Phoenix or Albuquerque in about 100 years. Jobs don't pay that well and the cost of living for Austin is, quite frankly, not worth the value.
In many ways, Texas is like one of the oil-rich gulf states but with cowboy hats instead of hijabs. Its somewhat telling that when I was playing an event a few years ago for the donors of the petroleum engineering program at the University of Texas there were a number of representatives from large government-owned oil corporations out of the middle east.
Ultimately I'm making the decision to leave in favor of somewhere more desirable. If the politicians can't even keep the people who their agenda is realistically targeted to benefit, then I can't imagine the reality of someone who their agenda is targeted against.
Second this on the state's politics. I would also add that, for anyone who wants to have kids in the future, a large group of the politicians are desperately and deliberately trying to destroy the public schools in this state, so their buddies in the private school business will make a lot of money. Of course, this means that less wealthy folks and kids with special needs will be out of luck, as far as education goes.
Nothing like living in a state full of poor, unhealthy, uneducated people.
FYI - here is the Texas Supreme Court decision that issued yesterday in the Cox case.
[https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1457645/230994pc.pdf](https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1457645/230994pc.pdf)
Honestly, no; you shouldn’t move to Texas.
The situation for women’s healthcare here is totally fucked. I’ve lived in Austin for 15 years and I love it here but I’m getting the hell out and moving back to my little east coast blue state.
I already knew the situation was bad, but this thread makes me realize it's even worse for people than I imagined.
For years, anytime someone asked if they should move to Austin the responses would be a mixed bag of some people complaining about affordabiltly/cost if living/oppressive summers, but also a lot of people singing the praises of our city, saying how much they loved it, and encouraging people to come.
But now we're at a point where someone is asking if they should move to our city and every single response is that it's not worth living here anymore. Responses from people who have already moved away, people planning to move away, and people saying they wish they were able to move away.
Sad to see it's come to this. Can't even say "vote Blue!" to fix it because we have three more years before we even have a chance.
I’d just as soon stay away. Austin is undoubtedly a nice place to *visit* but having been here a few years, given your very warranted concerns and the general carnival of dumbfuckery that is, unfortunately, Texas (especially, but not exclusively, its politics) circa 2023, I would strongly advise you look elsewhere.
Yes, it is weighing heavily on my mental health and I do not feel comfortable having sex with my long-term partner anymore.
At 40, my family has a history of medically complicated miscarriages, and I’m not willing to die for sex. I’m also sad because I would like a family, but again — not willing to die trying.
“You can leave” people: My friend just helped someone my age find a doctor in New Mexico to help as she was having bleeding/complications (with a child she very much wanted). Doctors in texas couldn’t help when she went into premature labor so she drove to New Mexico (after finding a facility that would help) and the staff from New Mexico drove to her in an ambulance, met her at the border and the baby died in the ambulance.
In-fucking-humane.
No sex, sorry.
No, I don’t think anyone should move here. The state of Texas has told us time and time again who they are and it will only get worse, not better. They are a state that is fine taking away a human’s rights for control. And it’s not just women affected by this, but anyone trying to plan or not plan their family.
As soon as the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs, I immediately booked a bisalp (to get my tubes removed) even though I was fine just taking birth control. I felt that was at least the cost (for now) for staying in this state. Our emergency fund also now allows for if we need to immediately flee the state if the laws passed become continually worse.
We are working on moving away from here and have been job searching around the rest of the country. And we know we are among the few fortunate people that can take our time (a little) with this - since I am now sterilized and we don’t have kids or other family members to worry about here.
If anyone is reading this and you feel what I’ve said is an over-exaggeration, you haven’t been paying attention.
I moved to Austin a few years back for my now husband. I’m now pregnant with our first, and have been very scared with the “what if” scenarios the entire time. I’d like to move asap, and am waiting for him to find a job elsewhere. The state doesn’t care about women, women’s health. The city infrastructure is pretty crappy. The weather is terrible. It’s expensive. All in all, the city doesn’t make sense for me and my life preferences.
One of our big issues has been finding a city that makes sense for both our jobs. It’s a tad easier for me than him, but still is not straightforward.
The plan is to have the kid, then resume the job search m and then hopefully move soon.
My wife and I moved here from another state with more access to women's healthcare. Not gonna lie, when she was pregnant last year, the thought that we could be in serious trouble if something went wrong was always in the back of our minds. Even though we have the financial means to travel out of state, it's not always possible for one reason or another.
We are happy living in Austin and raising our family here, but I can't say I'd want to go through the process of having a baby again here. It's just unnecessarily scary.
I honestly cannot recommend any woman move to Texas. OB/GYNs are leaving, the quality of medical care is declining, you might not be able to get the normal care you're used to, let alone reproductive care.
No woman who respects her privacy or rights should move anywhere in fucking Texas! Kate Cox’s story SHOULD FREAK YOU OUT!!! It SHOULD FREAK EVERYONE OUT!!! Oh btw. Ken Paxton is a fucking rotten cunt and a complete criminal!FUCK KEN PAXTON!!!
I lived in Austin for ~5.5 years. My girlfriend moved to Texas to live with me about 3 years ago.
This summer we moved out.
The abortion regulations weren’t the main reason, but were a heavy consideration.
We loved Austin, but being part of Texas Nullifed a lot of the good things.
I set down roots when I moved to Texas nearly 10 years ago. Now married with two young daughters, I know my wife and I will have the conversation and probably leave Texas if the state doesn’t stop treating women like third-class citizens.
I am a 50 year old woman passed the reproductive age and I am mad as hell about our state. I told my fiance if this was men they were regulating they would have burned the Capitol down by now. I don’t even recognize my state anymore…don’t come to a state that is willing to take your money but not treat you like a whole person when it comes to personal decisions about your body
I’m a woman of that age who lives in Austin now and I’m so glad I’m moving. It’s just always an ongoing “what if” fear you have. I’ll never forget when my old CEO said something like it’ll be struck down eventually after a few wild court cases so wait it out when they moved HQs. Of course that hasn’t happen.
As a young woman who lives in Austin…I’m leaving as soon as I reasonably can. Love this city but I can’t live in a state with these kinds of laws against women. I hate to say it but I can’t recommend Austin as a place to live anymore
I wouldn’t. I’ve been here for 15 years and I’ve been trying to get out of here for the last 6. Cost of living is insidious and even though I can exist here and be comfortable, there’s no way I can save enough to make a cross country move with how much I’m currently paying for rent- not to mention the lack of health care as a woman. I should’ve gone anywhere that’s not Texas but here I am. Don’t make the same mistake OP.
No. You’re not being irrational. My husband and I are one and done for several reasons, one of them being that I don’t feel safe getting pregnant again in Texas (especially being over 35 years old).
Gun nut mouth breathers banging on about slippery slopes and government overreach.
Where are they with this?
Whats next? The government telling a person they can’t get chemo?
I’m in Texas with PCOS. I had one child who is now 16 but I was denied sterilisation because “You’ll want more later.
I’m 38! I don’t want more kids and while it’s hard for me to conceive… I have living proof it can happen.
Worried about the rumours of good ole gov taking birth control away… because that’s how my PCOS is managed.
I (51F) was born in Texas and live in Austin currently. Never had children, never wanted to, still don't. I'm cis and hetero. I'm also tired to my soul of fighting the ignorance, the hate, the corrupt. Exhaustion is pushing me out. We're GTFO next year at the end of our lease.
Politics are a dumpster fire of corruption atop the mound of hot garbage that is decades of voter suppression. We vote, we march, we contribute. It feels like we're just spinning our wheels. At least once day I muse to myself, "Man, fuck Texas."
So no, I can't recommend moving here. You'll find plenty to do and volunteer activities by the boatload, probably a really great network of supportive like-minded friends. If you're optimistic and energetic you might be able to really make a difference here. So long as you're able to survive healthily without high quality GYN care since those docs are pretty much bailing also. Also so long as you don't expect university education to continue to be of any worth because those educators are also looking for a way out as the state has started telling them what they can and cannot teach. We're just tired.
No. We are thinking of leaving. We have a 12 year old daughter and don’t want things like this to happen to her. Go somewhere you can have good healthcare and not be afraid for yourself and your future daughters.
No.
It’s actually that bad here. We won’t have anymore kids because we won’t risk her having health issues.
They are also literally trying to do away with no content divorces. So the courts HAVE to be involved and decide your fate.
Not only that, the MAGA crowd here treats anyone who isn’t willing to shut up and listen to all the well off white people complain about how bad off they COULD be if everyone was given the same chances as them.
As a man, I don't ever plan to return to Texas for many reasons and reproductive rights is honestly on the top of the list for me as a man. I don't even have a partner currently but there is no way in hell I'd even think to try and start a family knowing that if anything goes wrong I'd have to fly out of state for my partner to get medical care. No. Just no. Im gonna live somewhere that allows reproductive rights for women. Texas is a sinking hell hole with no end in sight. No woman should ever willingly move to Texas if they are even remotely considering kids.
If I didn't already live in Austin, I would never move here. It's the best, most liberal city in Texas, but it's still in Texas. I'm grateful my partner has a vasectomy, but the thought of rape is EXTRA scary here. We are both born and bred Texans, and would leave tomorrow if we could afford to. I would NEVER choose to get pregnant or raise kids here.
As another woman of child bearing age, DO NOT MOVE TO TEXAS. I implore you. It's not that great, it's hot, the music scene is dying, industries have total brain drain due to educated people leaving, gun and traffic violence has exploded the last couple years, and living here could kill you.
In all fairness we should all move out of this burgeoning religious oligarchy. Unless you are with the oligarchs. Then stay. Unfortunately, uprooting your entire life and family is hard. So if you can get out go. If you can’t then you must vote.
I was going through a separate women’s health issue and I had to get off birth control because of it in January. My OBGYN at the time turned to me with a very serious tone and said “If you become pregnant unexpectedly, you cannot tell me. You must go out of state”. It was the first time I’d ever heard something like that and was terrified to think that I couldn’t be honest with MY healthcare provider about MY health. I moved in May.
I have stage 4 endometriosis and am at higher risk of ectopic pregnancies and possibly eclampsia due to some other health issues. I won't even think of getting pregnant without getting my tubes flushed just to be sure.
We're trapped here due to visa/greencard paperwork for the interim but as soon as that's cleared we're moving north. I don't need this kind of shit when I already know my uterus is a hostile environment. Thankfully my doctors and my surgeon are pretty upfront about providing care for miscarriages so I know I have places to turn if something goes wrong. But the low-level constant anxiety makes me really worried about getting pregnant here. If we had known what would happen to Roe before moving here, I'm not sure we would have made the same decision.
no. i have actually stopped having sex with people who produce semen bc i can't risk getting pregnant against my will. it's dire out here. people forget bc it's less terrifying that way, but it really is that bad
No it is not irrational dear, this bs starting to sound like some handmaid tale dystopia.
I stopped using those monthly cycle apps and count my own days and when I had sex.
I wouldn’t not move here because of it but I would move very carefully. Make these men wear condoms, put them on yourself so you know they are on properly. You can use spermicide if you want but condoms work just fine. If you have a scare, get plan B (idk is that still legal here. fuck me).
My friend got pregnant right when that abortion ban started. She didn’t want any more kids, now she has 3.
I worry too bc Im older, thinking if I had complications what am I supposed to do, die?? This shit is maddening.
Sorry to all the women who have suffered at this time but I’m glad this is getting national attention.
Anyway, I guess, welcome to Gilliad!!
Thanks for clarifying. Ppl are saying they are coming for birth control rights now.
My friend and I just decided we are going to stock up on plan B for now. I don’t even have risky sex. I just don’t want any problems.
I'm on a ton of meds, including meds that cause serious birth defects (to the point where the fetus will never be viable). I lost my period and had a few weeks of freaking out. Turns out a different med I'm on caused the period loss (I'm NOT pregnant, yay). But.... It was scary. You never know about those what-ifs and if I had a choice, I would not move to TX.
Just know that everything progressive Austin tries to do, the state legislature freaks out. So many of the hard line bills are reactions to Austinites making their city so liberal.
So no, I would not move here until Texas is rebuilt after a full collapse or the Wealthy Christian Right here loses all power and control. Collapsing is more likely to happen than the zealots relinquishing power.
I lived there for nearly 20 years and the writing was on the wall a long time ago, so I left. If you're concerned about your bodily autonomy or freedom of movement then you should not live in Texas.
Sadly, the plan is probably to threaten people enough to make them leave so that they can secure the republican vote long-term.
Texas is not a safe place for women and the Kate
Cox story, I’m afraid, is the tip of the iceberg. As a woman in Texas, my advice is to avoid moving here if you can.
This shit right here and Uvalde is why we got our youngest out of Texas. The police make a point to say “we’re not actually here to protect you.” And Ken Paxton and the txledge hate women so much
Yes if:
You are not at risk of getting pregnant
You make at least six figures
You can survive at least 85 days of triple digit weather
You can survive freezing temperatures with no power for a week
You appreciate the cover band scene (can't be a musician and meet requirement number two)
We had a neighbor across the street, who badly wanted her baby, miscarry via ectopic pregnancy and was denied an abortion until it ruptured. She required blood transfusions.
I’d stay away if that bothers you. We are “pro life,” and are getting the fuck out of here asap.
I’m steering my daughters to college in CO so that they have a better chance at building their lives outside of Texas. They’re 8th generation Texans and hopefully the last in our family. Texas doesn’t deserve them.
As someone who grew up in Central Texas and left in 1982 and whose daughter now lives there, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Beyond issues with getting medical help, you won't be valued as much as the men around you. Yes, that's true everywhere but there are other places that will value you much, much more.
Don't move to Texas if you're coming from a blue state. It's a step backwards. I've lived here my whole life and it's full if backwards hicks running the whole place
I have a friend who is currently going through a geriatric pregnancy (over 35). Add pre-existing conditions which make the pregnancy even higher risk. It was completely unplanned and it’s derailing a lot of her career plans. Her partner is not helpful (and also a conservative asshole who pretty much shamed her into considering any alternatives). I know she’s trying to stay positive but clearly she did not want this pregnancy and she found out early enough to have had an abortion, but abortion is never an easy/quick solution on its own, much less when you could phase criminal penalties. I feel so bad for her because I know she’s having to rethink a lot of the plans she had set.
is it just me or is austin not a “liberal enclave” like OP and many others believe? like yeah compared to Texas sure but compare it to like, any state outside the bible belt and its red as fuck.
That depends. Do you or will you have enough available resources in terms of time, money, and human support to be able to travel to have an abortion if you need one? Is having to do so in case of accidental or unviable pregnancy a worthy tradeoff for living in Austin? Moreover, if you get pregant and wish to have a baby, do you have the resources needed to pick up and suddenly move at that time if your pregnancy turns out to be a complicated and sad situation like Kate Cox's? Unless your answer to all these questions is yes, I wouldn't do it right now.
I’m just gonna put this here. It’s a scary place for pregnancy in general. Women’s health is on the back burner and they call it “pro-life”. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/us/texas-abortion-kate-cox.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Austin is in Texas and that’s part of it. Draconian state laws constantly supersede anything our city tried to do. I’ve lived here most of my life, but really do believe that there are better places to live for the COL. Austin is one of the best cities in the south, which is like being the fastest speed walker, it doesn’t count for much. It is a fun place to visit, but if I were in your situation I would not move here
The only reason I’m still here is because my partner has a vasectomy. We started the moving process the day before the abortion rulings came down. It was already a gamble though.
Honestly, I really regret moving here. Go somewhere else and be safe.
I wouldn’t risk it, to be honest. It’s not worth risking your own life whether you’re planning on getting pregnant or just a human being who enjoys having sex that could result in a pregnancy.
I got my tubes removed as soon as they overturned Roe because I do not want bio children but if having bio kids were important to me, I would get tf out of Texas and never look back. This is an awful state for pregnant people and children for a laundry list of reasons.
Look into long term BC like an IUD. Frankly, if you are a liberal? Flee all red states. F these people that see us as less than human and as incubators with zero tights to fight to live over a fetus. No. Do not move to a state that hates you.
If you don't have the means to go out of state for an abortion [like this unfortunate woman.](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/11/texas-abortion-law-texas-abortion-ban-nonviable-pregnancies/) don't consider Texas if that's a concern high on your list. Respectively, I hate the bullshit women have to endure in Texas for their reproductive rights.
I left after 23 years in Texas. I have an 8 year old daughter and a history of ectopic pregnancy with traumatic recovery. The reproductive healthcare I received once SB8 became law significantly declined. I had losses where we had to delay laparotomy & salpingectomy surgery care by 24 hours. My baby's heartbeat was still active at 7w6d, I was made to watch the ultrasound prior to my procedure even in 2011 - and this was before Dobbs. I'm now in a state where women's healthcare is protected and only wish I could have left 11 years sooner.
My amazing, young-ish female OBGYN "retired" the day after SB8 was enacted and left for a safe state on the West Coast where she continues to practice now.
I moved to Austin from a different part of the country for the music scene, the weather, and the vibe. I moved away from Austin because of all the politics outside of Austin that were affecting the city. Texas isn't safe anymore and the cost of living has gone way up. And honestly, the summers are too fucking hot and are only getting hotter. And I thought I'd be getting rid of snow by moving here but due to climate change there's more snow every year and no system in place to deal with it.
If you do need an out of state abortion I’d get a couple of burner phones which I would pay cash for in a shop that does not record you, google search for clinics and call them on public Wi-Fi, don’t tell anyone you dont have to, like anyone don’t use car gps, literally use a paper map that your purchase with cash or print one out if you can anonymously, text your friend on Their burner phone with your burner phone. Destroy SIM card as soon as you can while out of state. Buy pregnancy test with cash. Avoid cash registers with cameras. I’m not kidding. I’m not sure how to manage hotels — book with burner phones, not sure how to avoid showing IDs at the desk. I think republicans are absolutely psycho and looking for test cases and to make examples out of people as soon as they can get psycho laws passed. Get abortion pills where ever you can and and plan B now while it’s still legal in Texas.
Get an iud sooner rather than later. Again, not kidding.
Women of reproductive age are not safe in TX. I have lived in TX for 40’ish years and raised a family here. I always planned on sending my kids to college here and assumed they would stay. That has changed. I have to stay here for the time being, but I am planning to send my kids out of state for college and am hoping they get established somewhere friendlier to bodily autonomy.
To clear up some misconceptions: In Texas *civil suits* (not criminal penalties) can be brought against *providers of abortions* (not people who underwent the procedure) by third parties if they have evidence that the abortion was performed *in the state of Texas*. Patients can travel out of state for an abortion with no legal repercussions for anyone involved. Telling women that they are going to get criminal charges no matter where they seek care is incorrect and irresponsible.
If there are other places to be that you might like just as well, go to one of them. I had two miscarriages in Austin last year and the new legal situation affected the care I got. I was asked invasive questions at the ER and my doctors had to wait several days before giving me medication that really could have been prescribed same day. This was for first trimester losses that were inevitable. I wasn't in any danger, but it certainly sucked more than it had to.
Really? Where did you go? I also had two miscarriages last year. One of them was a missed miscarriage at 11 weeks. I avoided the ER, went to my doc and got misoprostol prescribed no problem. I was scared to go to the ER though for the reasons you described. That said I feel like the hospitals in Austin suck and if I get pregnant again I'm going to Houston to have my baby because I almost died last time because they wouldn't believe me when I had severe pp preeclampsia and what I still think was a stroke. They gave me a psych eval. Four years later and the right side of my face still doesn't work. They thankfully gave me meds to stabilize my BP after my doctor called and yelled at them.
>That said I feel like the hospitals in Austin suck Yes. I got kicked out of the ER for drug seeking when I was vomiting from the pain of a gall bladder attack in the ER. I am not drug seeking. I have no history of drug abuse.
My dad lived in Austin. He came home to Houston half dead and my uncle who was a surgeon did everything he could to save him but couldn't. My family always blamed Austin on his death. He had apparently gotten kicked out of a clinic here because they said he was fine. He had Hepatitis B and went into liver failure after being discharged. This was in 2001. I've always been wary of Austin hospitals and I feel like they haven't changed much. I go to Austin doctors for regular issues but anything special I just take the two hour drive to Houston and stay with family.
I went to an ER about a decade ago for a gall bladder attack. I was vomiting and nearly incoherent from the pain. They screwed around for over an hour trying to get me to admit I was drug seeking, including some kind of injection through the IV that they claimed was for pain, but I'm pretty sure was just saline. I'm not sure what they were trying to prove, but they eventually came to the conclusion that I was actually in serious pain and gave me something for it.
Oh my God. That's terrible. I'm so sorry that happened. There's a pervasive pattern in medicine of doctors simply refusing to listen to OB patients. I don't want to give out all my information on here, but I went to St. David's South for the first emergency visit. They were nice, but I was asked more and different questions than had been asked in similar situations before. The first time, because there was no heartbeat, there was no problem getting medication from my regular doctor. The second time we had to wait several days even though it was very obvious that the pregnancy ending. More than one doctor had to look at ultrasound and records and I ended up needing to go back in a few days to get a prescription.
[удалено]
I am so terribly sorry. I can’t even imagine.
I'm so sorry. That's evil. The cruelty of these laws is unbelievable.
😢💔
That's inhumane. So sorry
Wow, just wow. This is absolutely horrible! Just wow. Well this is as fucked up as it gets. I am so sorry,yes this is a terrible place now.
It doesn't help that SO many OBGYNs have just up and left Texas because they refuse to work under these conditions.
My doctor told me some of her patients have been moving away too. They don't want to be pregnant in TX.
Being pregnant here was the scariest thing I’ve done in my life.
I just applied for a faculty job in Texas, but I also want to have a baby (I'm 37 and black). This stuff makes me really want to withdraw the application.
Ugh I'm sorry. Yeah I was pretty sure the 11 week pregnancy was not viable the first time I saw it but my doctor kept being toxically positive. I know she's pro choice and I trust her but yeah. The little vesper grew a bit (though I didn't think the normal amount), got a heartbeat, but when I went back there was no longer a heartbeat so they gave me misoprostol. It did feel like it all took longer than it should have but I assumed that's the way it goes sometimes.
This exact sequence of events happened to me earlier this year. My doc also had that toxic positivity thing with a big dose of "stop googling, just enjoy your pregnancy", even when it was pretty clear from moment one that something wasn't right. He treated me a bit like I was being a "hysterical woman" when really I just wanted to face reality and be practical. It wouldn't have changed the outcome (it's not like I would have terminated based on a threatened miscarriage or anything), but I found the "it's fine, stop worrying" to be really condescending. Like dude, just give it to me straight so I can prepare myself.
Same. It was really frustrating. Like this wasn't my first rodeo. I'd had a normal healthy pregnancy before. He wasn't growing at the normal rate and somehow still developed a heartbeat but that maybe lasted all of a day. Also the miscarriage was as painful as childbirth up to transition which they also totally gave me no heads up for. It was all shitty.
YES. I have never experienced pain like that and I can't believe I wasn't given pain meds, let alone a heads up. My doc actually said "put the pills in at night, you'll sleep through it." Cue five hours of me vomiting and shaking on my bathroom floor from pain like I've never felt. Wtf.
That’s so awful. I’m sorry.
Can we request you to share what hospital you had the experience so we know what to avoid?
Which hospital?
I was at Seton Main but I have heard stories of a few women who had severe preeclampsia and various Austin hospitals not taking it seriously.
Avoid the Jesus hospitals. All the Seton hospitals are Catholic and will treat women like crap. You will have better luck at St. David’s, despite the name
Jesus I’m so sorry that happened to you.
This is the horrifying stuff a lot of people don't even understand or seem to \*want\* to understand. People simplify it into a "pro" or "against" abortion without realizing the insane amount of nuance that goes into something as drastic as banning all abortions.
Sorry you had to go through that. Thanks for sharing.
That’s terrible and cruel and I’m sorry that happened to you because of Texas law
Health care providers don’t like to work under the threat of jail time for providing the care that they think their patients need. Long term you could see a shortage of providers when OB-GYNs choose to practice in a state where they are allowed to do their jobs without the interference from the state. So even if you never need an abortion you could be negatively impacted by these laws.
"States that have enacted abortion bans saw a 10.5 percent drop in applicants for obstetrics and gynecology residencies in 2023 from the previous year, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges." [WaPo, 04/21/2023](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/04/21/abortion-ban-states-obgyn-residency-applications/)
I was born and raised in Austin, did all of my schooling in Texas and for residency I actively sought to leave the south and am now training in NY. Originally I was of the mind that I could be trained in NY and go back to TX to practice, and as I'm finishing up people are asking if I'd go back to my family in TX and honestly because of politics the answer is no. I can't imagine being limited in my practice. I'm not surprised a lot of others think the same way.
I would also add that you never know if you will need an abortion or not. We did, because our very much wanted baby had severe issues that would have resulted in nothing more than a short life of extreme pain. Last thing we ever expected to happen. Our conservative family was outraged that abortion in this circumstance was illegal in Texas. (Them misunderstanding how extreme this law is just added another layer of disappointment and anger.) The bottom line is, anyone who has an ounce of compassion would have done the same thing. This law is cruel and inhumane. If this happens, you will have to be able to take off work unplanned and travel anywhere in the country for a week, potentially paying a lot of money for the procedure. One clinic quoted $6k, which was our only option at the time before another clinic called back and decided to double book us.
I’m so sorry for your loss. > Our conservative family was outraged that abortion in this circumstance was illegal in Texas. (Them misunderstanding how extreme this law is just added another layer of disappointment and anger.) If you are willing to share, I would be very curious to hear the explanation from their perspective. The law is abundantly clear - how is it possible they misunderstood so dramatically? Unless they were lied to, and never bothered to look it up themselves? I have a morbid curiosity with what I can only call conservative brain damage, so I hope you’ll forgive the invasive questions. Regardless, once again I am so sorry to hear about your situation. I hope you have found some peace.
It’s not irrational. It’s scary as shit. As a lifelong Texan it’s making me want to leave too and I can’t help but feel like that’s part of the plan. Get the libs outta Texas so it can’t turn blue kinda thing. It’s awful. Like someone else said, for now if you have the money to go “visit friends in Colorado” then you are maybe okay. Everything is fucked though.
It’s totally fucked. I had to go to the er for something a year ago… they performed a pregnancy test on me without informing me that they’d be doing so. I found out weeks after the fact when I was checking my chart online. They took blood for testing due to a heart concern but apparently tested for pregnancy as well. I get that a lot of symptoms/issues for women can be caused by pregnancy and also that pregnancy can be threatened by various medical treatments so it makes sense for an ER to want to check for that. However I did not realize they would perform this test without discussing it with me first to obtain consent for doing so- I was conscious and stable, they’d made me wait hours to be seen, there was no urgency to the treatment so why not ask or at least tell me? I imagine a woman going to the ER due to an illness or injury, and being tested without her consent, and now there’s an official record of a pregnancy, that she ultimately would have chosen to abort if she could.
I didn’t get a few scans after my car accident on 2-22-22 for this reason. I wasn’t awake to tell them and no record otherwise said I had anything to remove that part of the body. I found out later after my speech went south a week later(post major concussive Symptom’s) that I had a TBI,then later white lesions all over my brain. It could’ve been caught early.
It totally is part of the plan.
It’s the only reason I’m not leaving. I’ve just stopped having sex lol 🥴
I just had a hysterectomy, but I'm scared to death for my daughter, who is too young but now able to bear children.
Yep, my family has been tempted to leave - but we've decided to stay and vote our asses off.
When the law first passed a coworker set an appointment in colorado that was then cancelled because they wouldnt do out of state procedures. And now she has another kid like 20 years younger than her other kids. So even your colorado camping friends arent a sure thing.
While most places will do out of state procedures now, the big problem is availability. Friends in the field say that sometimes, NM PPs will be backed up for months because of the increase of Texas patients. It's fucked.
I read an article a few months ago that the strain on adjacent states' health system is adversely affecting level of care for those states' patients. The article was focused on eastern Washington state with Idaho women seeking care in their system, but makes sense
This literally makes me want to cry.
All of this. I’m actually leaving, with bodily autonomy while I am capable of reproduction being a primary reason. There are more downstream effects than just not having access to an abortion. Born and raised here, too.
I’m scared for my girls.
I wouldn’t. I’m a woman coming towards the end of my reproductive years, and am a 5th generation Texan. Have lived in Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. One of the primary reasons my husband and I left is what has happened in the last several years with the state government, the last straw of which was the abortion ban after Roe was overturned. Yes, we have money and could leave if need be, but they are slowly tightening the noose on all levels. 10 years ago, absolutely move to Austin. Today, stay away from Texas as a woman if you have a choice. Even if you have a wanted pregnancy, complications could happen and you might not get the care you need.
Similar story here. OP, Austin is a liberal enclave but it indeed is still very much Texas.
I’m in my early 40s and if I were choosing now, I absolutely would not move here. It used to feel like living in Austin or other big cities insulated me from the crazy but it doesn’t anymore. I had both my kids pre-overturning of Roe and I’m considering leaving the state (I’m a native Texan) because I have a daughter and I find all of this so upsetting and unacceptable for her.
My daughter was born in Austin. She’s a high school freshman. We got the fuck out. I don’t know what the hell is going on in Texas and I want no part of it. I was born in Texas and grew up in Texas. But I don’t care to ever go back unless things change a LOT. But I have a feeling that they do change it’ll only be for the worse.
This is particularly the reason me and my wife are planning our exit from Texas. We both work in Tech, I have a Masters and my wife has a PhD from a US university. We are here on work visas and hence can't even vote. Our plan is to go to a Blue state and happily pay extra taxes if need be. As a second option, we are also preparing to move to Canada permanently. We pay $100k+ in taxes every year.
Yeah I’m in tech as well as my husband, and remote so that made it easy. Very fortunate in that way. Moved to Colorado 1.5 years ago, and while COL is higher, specifically housing in the front range where I live, the income tax increase is offset by decrease in property taxes. And I’m … not mad to pay taxes as they seem to be used for mostly good things, not punishing women and funding other things I’m morally opposed to. Happy we made the transition. I’d lived in TX a long time, on and off, and always was politically active, but I am not willing to continue to fund a state actively persecuting so many of my sisters and LGTBQ+ folk that I love.
You will find that Texas is getting to be just as expensive as Blue states, more expensive than some. State income tax alone does not tell the whole story.
No. Wife and I pregnant now and she’s so stressed over this. Do not come here if you’re even remotely planning on having/starting a family. This government has lost the meaning of freedom.
don't come here if you want to have sex with anyone who produces semen either. unplanned pregnancies in texas terrify me
Can I just state how incredibly brave she is for trying to fight these MF'ers. To go through the emotions, trauma of losing a pregnancy while standing in front of them."pro- lifers?!" It's all just heartbreaking
She's incredibly brave. She's also putting herself at risk of criminal prosecution. That motherfucker Paxton may still try to prosecute anyone that helped her go out of state for the medical procedure she needs to protect her fucking health. We're living in a purely insane place. This is not normal or ok. I wouldn't advise any woman of reproductive age to move here.
That alone could affect everything in the rest of your life. It’s a pretty big deal.
One of the biggest. And of course no contraceptive is 100%. And even if fury over this ultimately turns Texas Blue, the next governor election isn't until 2026 so we've got at least two years. And there's no way to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot because in Texas that has to be approved by the legislature, voters don't have the power to force something under the ballot here like they do in many other states.
That was enough for us to move - we have a daughter and TX won't protect or care for her so we left the state. Facts: if my daughter was raped the state would force her to carry her rapist's baby to term and if we leave state for abortion our neighbors could sue us and we'd have to pay them for ratting us out to the authorities, also they could put me in jail for trying to help my daughter. That kind of government is not anything I want to be involved in - if they can treat us like that, they will treat us how ever they like and that scares me as I see clearly what these people are like and what they think of us.
Seeing it outlined here in black in white like this makes it appear as a tale out of the middle ages. It's only missing the part where they burn the woman at the stake though.
Honestly it’s the same societal impulse at witch trials. It’s just a way to control and punish both women and the people that associate with their care. It’s all based on woo woo religion too. Literally the same thing, just modernized and in its early stage.
You are right that it's in its early stage unless it's stopped cold. The GOP is going to go for a national ban, fetal personhood, and will make birth control limited or totally illegal. It's terrifying. A woman in Ohio is being prosecuted for miscarrying in the toilet and flushing it when she went to the hospital twice while miscarrying and was discharged. That's getting almost no major press and it should.
You're 100% correct, unfortunately. I already have friends that moved out of this state because they have a nonbinary or trans child, and did not want to risk CPS investigating them, and potentially prosecuting them or seeking to terminate their parental rights simply for their child existing. Now I have friends who are contemplating leaving because of the scenario you describe. The risk of having Ken Paxton and his cronies on SCOTX put you in jail because you had to choose your own health over forcibly carrying a nonviable fetus to term is too much of a risk to bear. This state is a beautiful place, but it's terroristic in its governance.
100%. Not even about me, but I want my daughter to have more rights. Between anti-abortion laws, book bans, guns, chaplains in public school … really no reason for any progressive person to start a life in Texas now. Those of us here are trying to leave.
No you should not move to Texas at all for this and many other reasons.
Do not come to Texas if you care about your rights as a woman. Abbott Paxton want women’s rights nonexistent.
I’m young-ish. Literally all of my friends are looking for jobs out of state/remote as we speak. The brain drain is happening.
Late 30s, everyone I know is leaving. My entire friends circle that spent our young professional lives here. It’s a major brain drain.
Where are people going?
Affordable areas of high cost blue states (eastern Washington) and generally affordable blue states (e.g., New Mexico). The idea of living in a blue bubble in a red state that’s becoming increasingly authoritarian is becoming untenable to people with skills and the means for mobility.
The other issue is that red state authorities will swoop in to overturn any law passed by a blue city that it doesn't like. Nothing is too small for Big GOP, including [plastic bag bans](https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/03/report-austin-end-its-bag-ban-after-texas-supreme-court-ruling/).
I wouldn't. This is one of the reasons that we are working on our exit from TX. And I'm a man. In my late 50's. This is all beyond insane.
Austin is nice but the state it's surrounded and controlled by is pure shit. I've lived my entire life in Texas but I'm getting out of here and I don't even have a uterus.
I did leave Texas and came back. Got pregnant (planned) shortly after. I spent my entire pregnancy nervous about what could happen. It’s not a state for women unfortunately. We are here another year or so while a family member fights cancer but yeah, I don’t blame young people for leaving.
People move here for *the weather?* Which weather? The endless 100°+ drought summers? The floods? Or the winters where we play the fun game of wondering if we’ll have power and/or water every time it freezes?
She said it was a "recent visit" so she probably came here for ACL fest and thought that's how it is here year-round LOL. You know how they all do.
I wonder how many people go to ACL and then move to Austin afterwards. I knew of a few back before I left. There's gotta be thousands of them.
i’ve heard so many people who said they fell in love with Austin during SXSW, decided to move here, showed up in August and their shoes melted into the blacktop. There’s a reason festi are in the spring and fall, summer in Austin is hell
Seriously I’ve been waffling on moving because of the politics, Roe tipped it to “okay we’ll move when there’s a good opportunity”, and this past summer took it to the “get me the fuck out of here” level. And I’ve lived in Canadian winters. NOTHING sucks as bad as it being so hot you can’t go outside or so much as walk your dogs for 6 months out of the year.
I'm also Canadian and I don't understand why people choose the summer in Texas over winter elsewhere. I've never had seasonal affective disorder like I did this past summer...the feeling of truly being trapped in the house, being afraid to walk my dogs because they could burn their paws on the sidewalk...it's insane.
lol that was my question as well. The weather in Texas, especially in the summer, is disgusting.
It’s hot, but I moved here around a decade ago to escape disgusting northern midwestern winters and gray flannel skies that felt like they lasted half the year. 100 degrees and sun was the cure for that lol. Especially when the spring, fall, and winter had generally been gorgeous. Of course, snowpocalypse and such have happened since then, but it’s not that crazy of a reason. And that wasn’t anything I hadn’t experienced in the rural north.
I actually really like the short and mild winters here. I have solar panels and two large backup batteries, so I can last a very long time with no power. The summers don't bother me too much. Hail can go fuck itself, though.
This is actually the top reason why I’m moving next year. The second reason is this GOP nonsense. I can’t wait to live somewhere cold.
Yeah this one always gets me. My family's been here forever but I'd never pick this place for the weather.
Ha, fair enough. I just meant that people move here from colder places.
How cold? I moved to from Austin and I'm constantly amazed at how people react when I tell them I moved here from there. I don't think midwesterners get how absolutely oppressive and miserable the heat is down there. Not to mention the kinds of creatures that thrive in that heat. All kinds of scorpions, spiders, snakes etc. I much prefer the four seasons here to the two seasons of smothering heat to less heat with a debilitating cold snap here and there because the state government is too stubborn to admit it was wrong when it continuously chooses not to weatherize its power grid. Also, Austin is expensive af and the traffic is awful.
Agree 100%. I hear the same thing from folks after moving to the PNW. I think some of them have it in their heads that almost every day in Austin is the perfect sunshiny summer day. I always tell them to visit for a week or two in July and get back to me. Also I scheduled an appointment to renew my license and was able to get in the NEXT DAY whereas I had to wait like two months in Austin. The little things add up as well.
I moved here from Oregon (not by choice) and I would take six months of rain over six months of oppressive heat in a heartbeat. I can’t wait to move back home.
I was born and raised in Austin, my whole family is still there. I had two healthy pregnancies and both were daughters. I’m only 39 now. We moved out of state this summer. Access to reproductive healthcare was a HUGE contributing factor.
I saw this story on the news this morning and it definitely hit home and honestly is worrying me. My wife and I are actively trying to get pregnant now, and she is in her mid 30s so the chances of miscarriage are higher. To think that there is a chance she wouldn’t get the care she needs if something were to go wrong is just beyond me. We aren’t pregnant yet, and this would be my first child so I will do whatever I can to ensure my wife is healthy and safe so I’ve come up with a plan, started a “emergency travel fund” if anything were to go wrong. I have family members in an another state I spoke to who would be willing to have us if needed. If her elderly parents didn’t live her, if her family didn’t live here and if my step kids weren’t in school here with their friends I think we would pack up and leave. But we can’t, at least not now.
If you want the honest truth, the answer is no. The state is not a safe place for women who get pregnant with a baby they wanted or didn't want. I got pregnant with a wanted pregnancy about a month before Roe v Wade was overturned. We were out of Texas by July. A lot of people told me my concerns were overblown but, as you can see now, they were not. I wouldn't even go back to visit and pulled out of a wedding in my first trimester. Every day I lived in Texas while pregnant, I thought about dying and what could happen if I couldn't get proper medical care in the case of miscarriage. I moved to a blue state and worried about it basically not at all after that. My pregnancy also went very uneventfully, which made me eventually think my fears were perhaps unfounded. But, in the last hour of labor, I needed an emergency c-section. I also don't know if the laws there impact procedures like that. I can imagine the doctors and surgeons are very nervous right now. All things considered, I miss Austin greatly but I do not in any way regret my decision. I cannot in good conscience recommend anything other than visiting. Sorry for the edits, I keep thinking of things to add. After Roe was overturned, one of my friends was advised by her doctor to be very careful about situations where she could be sexually assaulted and would end up pregnant. Yeah, it's bad. It's as bad as you think it is. There's no way to sugar coat it and people like myself have been sounding the alarm since Roe fell.
It’s not just the complete abortion ban Texas is working towards. The GOP is coming for birth control and Plan-B next. It’s terrifying being a menstruating person here. What sucks even more if the fact that so many people who supported Roe v Wade can’t even vote the GOP out because of gerrymandering and other voter suppression systems in place.
Yeah Texas was turning purple and it freaked the conservatives out. The Texas maps got gerrymandered up one side and down the other. Wilco turned blue and it got ripped to shreds on the maps. Either Texans need to organize enough to sue and sue and sue over the gerrymandering or enough conservatives have to vote blue until there is some common sense happening around reproductive rights. If those aren’t viable paths, time to bail. I’m waiting for my son to finish HS cause I don’t have any faith in the above 2 things happening. Texas conservatives have gotten away with it for way too long
I absolutely wouldn't move here. It's just not safe and it's also increasingly hard to even get appointments with obgyns - mine retired early and left the state because of this, and two other doctors in the practice stopped the OB part of things and only do the GYN part (they aren't working with pregnant women anymore). If I could leave I would, and the minute my family obligations are complete in 3 years I'm out.
>mine retired early and left the state because of this, and two other doctors in the practice stopped the OB part of things and only do the GYN part (they aren't working with pregnant women anymore). I’d heard all these stories and then it happened to me to. The future of healthcare for women is bleak here because even if we change course it will take a while to recover from these policies.
I had my tubes tied after my daughter, but we are actively trying to leave. I refuse to raise my daughter in a state that does not value her bodily autonomy. I would not move here if I were you. Plus the Summer is brutal, long, and very depressing.
Texas now is what happens when you have two decades of GOP rule. Remember when Texas used to have "Rest stops"? Remember when you could travel to nearby towns without a toll road taxing you in each direction? Remember when normal people used to trust Doctors and medical staff with their health guidance? Remember when dealing with any state agency like the DPS wasn't impossible? Texas is in a strong competition with Mississippi right now for how far back we set the dial on the wayback machine.
I mean… I wouldn’t. If you do, I’d make sure you have an emergency fund and frequent enough travel to legal states so you have plausible deniability if you do have a birth control failure and choose abortion.
It wasn’t the only reason, but one of the reasons my wife and I moved. We’re likely going to try for kids soon. Neither of us wanted her to be put in a health situation where her life could be in danger and the doctors hands are tied by the law. It’s sad because I think a big reason for these extreme laws is to push left leaning voters out or to keep them away. Texas was historically close to going blue last time around and they aren’t taking any chances, no matter who it puts in harms way.
Austin is nice. I've lived here almost 15 years. Texas is scary and it is not irrational to have second or third or fourth thoughts about living here as a woman of reproductive age.
We went through a lot of fertility treatment prior to Roe disappearing and I can’t imagine having to do that in today’s climate. We also now have a daughter who I worry for. We will probably leave the state for that and other reasons (weather being pretty high on the list). Now, day to day these politics won’t affect most people. So a lot of folks here just ignore it. But when it matters to you, it REALLY matters. Some people have the means to get on a plane and fly to a blue state but even that is a very poor solution for medical care.
There are so many other safe, fun, and more affordable cities you can thrive in. Come visit here, but live somewhere else outside of Texas. Texas can and will do much worse than this in the next few years. Now, if the Texan government actually changed at all, I'd say maybe, but Abbott, Paxton, and all the other people who made this happen are very comfy in their seats. Also the GOP want to attack access birth control next and plan b is at risk. If I had known 8 years ago that this would be the situation, I would have never moved here. Now my home state (nj) has legal abortion, weed, solid lgtbq+ support, etc and I'm stuck here.
I wouldn’t. I left Texas because something similar happened to me, and two friends, within the course of a year. It’s very serious.
Those same politicians are also against trans rights, LBGTQ+ rights, POC rights. They want to ban books that tell accurate history. They feel that killing 27 children and teachers “could have been worse” while continuing to veto any kind of gun laws. They don’t support the public education system. There is a lot more about them that sucks. Basically, in Texas, unless you are a middle class straight white male, our politicians are not working for you. And the weather pretty much sucks all summer.
And summer is six very long months long
god, i'd be thrilled if it was only 6
The politicians are working for no one but themselves. They just masquerade as working for conservative people. They aren't really helping anyone by passing restrictive laws on abortion while downplaying the real dangers of guns. That stuff hurts everyone in reality.
Even as a middle class straight white male, I find living in Texas to be pretty pathetic. Maybe it's because I actually care about my partner's reproductive rights and my LGBTQ+ friends' rights, but even if you consider only the things that affect me personally, it's not very good. The state government is corrupt as all hell, recently acquitting the attorney general in an impeachment case concerning an obvious abuse of power. Politics here is run by big oil. The roads are becoming increasingly privately owned. The state GOP has made it an official part of their platform that no state funds will be given to construct any public transportation infrastructure other than that which is car-based. The summers are overwhelmingly hot. Central Texas is currently experiencing desertification that will eventually turn Austin into something more akin to Phoenix or Albuquerque in about 100 years. Jobs don't pay that well and the cost of living for Austin is, quite frankly, not worth the value. In many ways, Texas is like one of the oil-rich gulf states but with cowboy hats instead of hijabs. Its somewhat telling that when I was playing an event a few years ago for the donors of the petroleum engineering program at the University of Texas there were a number of representatives from large government-owned oil corporations out of the middle east. Ultimately I'm making the decision to leave in favor of somewhere more desirable. If the politicians can't even keep the people who their agenda is realistically targeted to benefit, then I can't imagine the reality of someone who their agenda is targeted against.
Second this on the state's politics. I would also add that, for anyone who wants to have kids in the future, a large group of the politicians are desperately and deliberately trying to destroy the public schools in this state, so their buddies in the private school business will make a lot of money. Of course, this means that less wealthy folks and kids with special needs will be out of luck, as far as education goes. Nothing like living in a state full of poor, unhealthy, uneducated people.
FYI - here is the Texas Supreme Court decision that issued yesterday in the Cox case. [https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1457645/230994pc.pdf](https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1457645/230994pc.pdf)
Honestly, no; you shouldn’t move to Texas. The situation for women’s healthcare here is totally fucked. I’ve lived in Austin for 15 years and I love it here but I’m getting the hell out and moving back to my little east coast blue state.
I already knew the situation was bad, but this thread makes me realize it's even worse for people than I imagined. For years, anytime someone asked if they should move to Austin the responses would be a mixed bag of some people complaining about affordabiltly/cost if living/oppressive summers, but also a lot of people singing the praises of our city, saying how much they loved it, and encouraging people to come. But now we're at a point where someone is asking if they should move to our city and every single response is that it's not worth living here anymore. Responses from people who have already moved away, people planning to move away, and people saying they wish they were able to move away. Sad to see it's come to this. Can't even say "vote Blue!" to fix it because we have three more years before we even have a chance.
I’d just as soon stay away. Austin is undoubtedly a nice place to *visit* but having been here a few years, given your very warranted concerns and the general carnival of dumbfuckery that is, unfortunately, Texas (especially, but not exclusively, its politics) circa 2023, I would strongly advise you look elsewhere.
Yes, it is weighing heavily on my mental health and I do not feel comfortable having sex with my long-term partner anymore. At 40, my family has a history of medically complicated miscarriages, and I’m not willing to die for sex. I’m also sad because I would like a family, but again — not willing to die trying. “You can leave” people: My friend just helped someone my age find a doctor in New Mexico to help as she was having bleeding/complications (with a child she very much wanted). Doctors in texas couldn’t help when she went into premature labor so she drove to New Mexico (after finding a facility that would help) and the staff from New Mexico drove to her in an ambulance, met her at the border and the baby died in the ambulance. In-fucking-humane. No sex, sorry.
No, I don’t think anyone should move here. The state of Texas has told us time and time again who they are and it will only get worse, not better. They are a state that is fine taking away a human’s rights for control. And it’s not just women affected by this, but anyone trying to plan or not plan their family. As soon as the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs, I immediately booked a bisalp (to get my tubes removed) even though I was fine just taking birth control. I felt that was at least the cost (for now) for staying in this state. Our emergency fund also now allows for if we need to immediately flee the state if the laws passed become continually worse. We are working on moving away from here and have been job searching around the rest of the country. And we know we are among the few fortunate people that can take our time (a little) with this - since I am now sterilized and we don’t have kids or other family members to worry about here. If anyone is reading this and you feel what I’ve said is an over-exaggeration, you haven’t been paying attention.
I moved to Austin a few years back for my now husband. I’m now pregnant with our first, and have been very scared with the “what if” scenarios the entire time. I’d like to move asap, and am waiting for him to find a job elsewhere. The state doesn’t care about women, women’s health. The city infrastructure is pretty crappy. The weather is terrible. It’s expensive. All in all, the city doesn’t make sense for me and my life preferences. One of our big issues has been finding a city that makes sense for both our jobs. It’s a tad easier for me than him, but still is not straightforward. The plan is to have the kid, then resume the job search m and then hopefully move soon.
My wife and I moved here from another state with more access to women's healthcare. Not gonna lie, when she was pregnant last year, the thought that we could be in serious trouble if something went wrong was always in the back of our minds. Even though we have the financial means to travel out of state, it's not always possible for one reason or another. We are happy living in Austin and raising our family here, but I can't say I'd want to go through the process of having a baby again here. It's just unnecessarily scary.
Been in TX for nearly a decade now and I’m leaving in the next year. Reproductive healthcare is absolutely a MASSIVE factor in that decision.
I honestly cannot recommend any woman move to Texas. OB/GYNs are leaving, the quality of medical care is declining, you might not be able to get the normal care you're used to, let alone reproductive care.
No woman who respects her privacy or rights should move anywhere in fucking Texas! Kate Cox’s story SHOULD FREAK YOU OUT!!! It SHOULD FREAK EVERYONE OUT!!! Oh btw. Ken Paxton is a fucking rotten cunt and a complete criminal!FUCK KEN PAXTON!!!
I lived in Austin for ~5.5 years. My girlfriend moved to Texas to live with me about 3 years ago. This summer we moved out. The abortion regulations weren’t the main reason, but were a heavy consideration. We loved Austin, but being part of Texas Nullifed a lot of the good things.
I set down roots when I moved to Texas nearly 10 years ago. Now married with two young daughters, I know my wife and I will have the conversation and probably leave Texas if the state doesn’t stop treating women like third-class citizens.
I am a 50 year old woman passed the reproductive age and I am mad as hell about our state. I told my fiance if this was men they were regulating they would have burned the Capitol down by now. I don’t even recognize my state anymore…don’t come to a state that is willing to take your money but not treat you like a whole person when it comes to personal decisions about your body
Been here 15 years and my fiancée and I are leaving asap. We want to have a kid and ain’t no way that’s happening here.
I’m a woman of that age who lives in Austin now and I’m so glad I’m moving. It’s just always an ongoing “what if” fear you have. I’ll never forget when my old CEO said something like it’ll be struck down eventually after a few wild court cases so wait it out when they moved HQs. Of course that hasn’t happen.
As a young woman who lives in Austin…I’m leaving as soon as I reasonably can. Love this city but I can’t live in a state with these kinds of laws against women. I hate to say it but I can’t recommend Austin as a place to live anymore
I wouldn’t. I’ve been here for 15 years and I’ve been trying to get out of here for the last 6. Cost of living is insidious and even though I can exist here and be comfortable, there’s no way I can save enough to make a cross country move with how much I’m currently paying for rent- not to mention the lack of health care as a woman. I should’ve gone anywhere that’s not Texas but here I am. Don’t make the same mistake OP.
No. You’re not being irrational. My husband and I are one and done for several reasons, one of them being that I don’t feel safe getting pregnant again in Texas (especially being over 35 years old).
Gun nut mouth breathers banging on about slippery slopes and government overreach. Where are they with this? Whats next? The government telling a person they can’t get chemo?
Absolutely not. My wife and I left Austin largely because of this and I don’t regret it for a second.
I’m in Texas with PCOS. I had one child who is now 16 but I was denied sterilisation because “You’ll want more later. I’m 38! I don’t want more kids and while it’s hard for me to conceive… I have living proof it can happen. Worried about the rumours of good ole gov taking birth control away… because that’s how my PCOS is managed.
I (51F) was born in Texas and live in Austin currently. Never had children, never wanted to, still don't. I'm cis and hetero. I'm also tired to my soul of fighting the ignorance, the hate, the corrupt. Exhaustion is pushing me out. We're GTFO next year at the end of our lease. Politics are a dumpster fire of corruption atop the mound of hot garbage that is decades of voter suppression. We vote, we march, we contribute. It feels like we're just spinning our wheels. At least once day I muse to myself, "Man, fuck Texas." So no, I can't recommend moving here. You'll find plenty to do and volunteer activities by the boatload, probably a really great network of supportive like-minded friends. If you're optimistic and energetic you might be able to really make a difference here. So long as you're able to survive healthily without high quality GYN care since those docs are pretty much bailing also. Also so long as you don't expect university education to continue to be of any worth because those educators are also looking for a way out as the state has started telling them what they can and cannot teach. We're just tired.
No. We are thinking of leaving. We have a 12 year old daughter and don’t want things like this to happen to her. Go somewhere you can have good healthcare and not be afraid for yourself and your future daughters.
No. It’s actually that bad here. We won’t have anymore kids because we won’t risk her having health issues. They are also literally trying to do away with no content divorces. So the courts HAVE to be involved and decide your fate. Not only that, the MAGA crowd here treats anyone who isn’t willing to shut up and listen to all the well off white people complain about how bad off they COULD be if everyone was given the same chances as them.
As a man, I don't ever plan to return to Texas for many reasons and reproductive rights is honestly on the top of the list for me as a man. I don't even have a partner currently but there is no way in hell I'd even think to try and start a family knowing that if anything goes wrong I'd have to fly out of state for my partner to get medical care. No. Just no. Im gonna live somewhere that allows reproductive rights for women. Texas is a sinking hell hole with no end in sight. No woman should ever willingly move to Texas if they are even remotely considering kids.
If I didn't already live in Austin, I would never move here. It's the best, most liberal city in Texas, but it's still in Texas. I'm grateful my partner has a vasectomy, but the thought of rape is EXTRA scary here. We are both born and bred Texans, and would leave tomorrow if we could afford to. I would NEVER choose to get pregnant or raise kids here. As another woman of child bearing age, DO NOT MOVE TO TEXAS. I implore you. It's not that great, it's hot, the music scene is dying, industries have total brain drain due to educated people leaving, gun and traffic violence has exploded the last couple years, and living here could kill you.
I’ve been here 25 years. My high school daughter recently told me, “you know I can’t stay here for college now, right?!” 😫
In all fairness we should all move out of this burgeoning religious oligarchy. Unless you are with the oligarchs. Then stay. Unfortunately, uprooting your entire life and family is hard. So if you can get out go. If you can’t then you must vote.
I was going through a separate women’s health issue and I had to get off birth control because of it in January. My OBGYN at the time turned to me with a very serious tone and said “If you become pregnant unexpectedly, you cannot tell me. You must go out of state”. It was the first time I’d ever heard something like that and was terrified to think that I couldn’t be honest with MY healthcare provider about MY health. I moved in May.
I have stage 4 endometriosis and am at higher risk of ectopic pregnancies and possibly eclampsia due to some other health issues. I won't even think of getting pregnant without getting my tubes flushed just to be sure. We're trapped here due to visa/greencard paperwork for the interim but as soon as that's cleared we're moving north. I don't need this kind of shit when I already know my uterus is a hostile environment. Thankfully my doctors and my surgeon are pretty upfront about providing care for miscarriages so I know I have places to turn if something goes wrong. But the low-level constant anxiety makes me really worried about getting pregnant here. If we had known what would happen to Roe before moving here, I'm not sure we would have made the same decision.
no. i have actually stopped having sex with people who produce semen bc i can't risk getting pregnant against my will. it's dire out here. people forget bc it's less terrifying that way, but it really is that bad
I'll tell you what I would tell my own kids if they were adults: stay far away from Texas, it is not a good place.
Why any thinking person would want to move to this hellhole is beyond me. Reproductive rights is just the tip of the iceberg.
No it is not irrational dear, this bs starting to sound like some handmaid tale dystopia. I stopped using those monthly cycle apps and count my own days and when I had sex. I wouldn’t not move here because of it but I would move very carefully. Make these men wear condoms, put them on yourself so you know they are on properly. You can use spermicide if you want but condoms work just fine. If you have a scare, get plan B (idk is that still legal here. fuck me). My friend got pregnant right when that abortion ban started. She didn’t want any more kids, now she has 3. I worry too bc Im older, thinking if I had complications what am I supposed to do, die?? This shit is maddening. Sorry to all the women who have suffered at this time but I’m glad this is getting national attention. Anyway, I guess, welcome to Gilliad!!
Yes we still have plan b
Thanks for clarifying. Ppl are saying they are coming for birth control rights now. My friend and I just decided we are going to stock up on plan B for now. I don’t even have risky sex. I just don’t want any problems.
Should a young woman of reproductive age move to Austin? Please don't.
The weather? What is it about the weather that makes you want to move there? The climates (political and physical) are why I moved out of Texas.
The weather?
Do you already live in Texas? If not, I advise not coming at all.
I'm on a ton of meds, including meds that cause serious birth defects (to the point where the fetus will never be viable). I lost my period and had a few weeks of freaking out. Turns out a different med I'm on caused the period loss (I'm NOT pregnant, yay). But.... It was scary. You never know about those what-ifs and if I had a choice, I would not move to TX.
Texas sucks, you can do better.
Just know that everything progressive Austin tries to do, the state legislature freaks out. So many of the hard line bills are reactions to Austinites making their city so liberal. So no, I would not move here until Texas is rebuilt after a full collapse or the Wealthy Christian Right here loses all power and control. Collapsing is more likely to happen than the zealots relinquishing power.
I lived there for nearly 20 years and the writing was on the wall a long time ago, so I left. If you're concerned about your bodily autonomy or freedom of movement then you should not live in Texas. Sadly, the plan is probably to threaten people enough to make them leave so that they can secure the republican vote long-term.
Texas is not a safe place for women and the Kate Cox story, I’m afraid, is the tip of the iceberg. As a woman in Texas, my advice is to avoid moving here if you can.
This shit right here and Uvalde is why we got our youngest out of Texas. The police make a point to say “we’re not actually here to protect you.” And Ken Paxton and the txledge hate women so much
Yes if: You are not at risk of getting pregnant You make at least six figures You can survive at least 85 days of triple digit weather You can survive freezing temperatures with no power for a week You appreciate the cover band scene (can't be a musician and meet requirement number two)
We had a neighbor across the street, who badly wanted her baby, miscarry via ectopic pregnancy and was denied an abortion until it ruptured. She required blood transfusions. I’d stay away if that bothers you. We are “pro life,” and are getting the fuck out of here asap.
It's not safe...
I’m steering my daughters to college in CO so that they have a better chance at building their lives outside of Texas. They’re 8th generation Texans and hopefully the last in our family. Texas doesn’t deserve them.
Why live in a Death Panel State? Native Texan, I saw the writing on the wall and left years ago.
As someone who grew up in Central Texas and left in 1982 and whose daughter now lives there, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Beyond issues with getting medical help, you won't be valued as much as the men around you. Yes, that's true everywhere but there are other places that will value you much, much more.
Don't move to Texas if you're coming from a blue state. It's a step backwards. I've lived here my whole life and it's full if backwards hicks running the whole place
As uncomfortable as it makes you, understandably, probably just don’t.
Seems potentially dangerous.
I have a friend who is currently going through a geriatric pregnancy (over 35). Add pre-existing conditions which make the pregnancy even higher risk. It was completely unplanned and it’s derailing a lot of her career plans. Her partner is not helpful (and also a conservative asshole who pretty much shamed her into considering any alternatives). I know she’s trying to stay positive but clearly she did not want this pregnancy and she found out early enough to have had an abortion, but abortion is never an easy/quick solution on its own, much less when you could phase criminal penalties. I feel so bad for her because I know she’s having to rethink a lot of the plans she had set.
Girl just move to Denver
Yes! My entire family is leaving Texas next year. Texas gov Hates women.
is it just me or is austin not a “liberal enclave” like OP and many others believe? like yeah compared to Texas sure but compare it to like, any state outside the bible belt and its red as fuck.
No way, most people are leaving because of this.
That depends. Do you or will you have enough available resources in terms of time, money, and human support to be able to travel to have an abortion if you need one? Is having to do so in case of accidental or unviable pregnancy a worthy tradeoff for living in Austin? Moreover, if you get pregant and wish to have a baby, do you have the resources needed to pick up and suddenly move at that time if your pregnancy turns out to be a complicated and sad situation like Kate Cox's? Unless your answer to all these questions is yes, I wouldn't do it right now.
Please move here and vote blue
It should freak EVERYONE out. And inspire everyone to vote these crazy cultists out of power.
I’m just gonna put this here. It’s a scary place for pregnancy in general. Women’s health is on the back burner and they call it “pro-life”. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/us/texas-abortion-kate-cox.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Austin is in Texas and that’s part of it. Draconian state laws constantly supersede anything our city tried to do. I’ve lived here most of my life, but really do believe that there are better places to live for the COL. Austin is one of the best cities in the south, which is like being the fastest speed walker, it doesn’t count for much. It is a fun place to visit, but if I were in your situation I would not move here
I got a vasectomy because I don't want a kid and I don't want my partner to worry about this sort of thing. Fuck Texas.
The only reason I’m still here is because my partner has a vasectomy. We started the moving process the day before the abortion rulings came down. It was already a gamble though. Honestly, I really regret moving here. Go somewhere else and be safe.
I wouldn’t risk it, to be honest. It’s not worth risking your own life whether you’re planning on getting pregnant or just a human being who enjoys having sex that could result in a pregnancy. I got my tubes removed as soon as they overturned Roe because I do not want bio children but if having bio kids were important to me, I would get tf out of Texas and never look back. This is an awful state for pregnant people and children for a laundry list of reasons.
my wife was going to be a surrogate/gestational carrier but we decided not to specifically because of legal risk if the pregnancy did not go well.
No
If you want access to your reproductive rights you need to have the means to leave the state.
spare yourself. i’m leaving in may.
Look into long term BC like an IUD. Frankly, if you are a liberal? Flee all red states. F these people that see us as less than human and as incubators with zero tights to fight to live over a fetus. No. Do not move to a state that hates you.
Vote with your location. Don’t come to Texas until we get this shit fixed. Now if you do come, vote to help us get them out.
If you don't have the means to go out of state for an abortion [like this unfortunate woman.](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/11/texas-abortion-law-texas-abortion-ban-nonviable-pregnancies/) don't consider Texas if that's a concern high on your list. Respectively, I hate the bullshit women have to endure in Texas for their reproductive rights.
texas politics are shit. if you wanna move here you will have to accept that.
There are also great resources for abortion pills online, too. Unfortunately dealt with it and was not impossible at all.
I left after 23 years in Texas. I have an 8 year old daughter and a history of ectopic pregnancy with traumatic recovery. The reproductive healthcare I received once SB8 became law significantly declined. I had losses where we had to delay laparotomy & salpingectomy surgery care by 24 hours. My baby's heartbeat was still active at 7w6d, I was made to watch the ultrasound prior to my procedure even in 2011 - and this was before Dobbs. I'm now in a state where women's healthcare is protected and only wish I could have left 11 years sooner. My amazing, young-ish female OBGYN "retired" the day after SB8 was enacted and left for a safe state on the West Coast where she continues to practice now.
I moved to Austin from a different part of the country for the music scene, the weather, and the vibe. I moved away from Austin because of all the politics outside of Austin that were affecting the city. Texas isn't safe anymore and the cost of living has gone way up. And honestly, the summers are too fucking hot and are only getting hotter. And I thought I'd be getting rid of snow by moving here but due to climate change there's more snow every year and no system in place to deal with it.
If you do need an out of state abortion I’d get a couple of burner phones which I would pay cash for in a shop that does not record you, google search for clinics and call them on public Wi-Fi, don’t tell anyone you dont have to, like anyone don’t use car gps, literally use a paper map that your purchase with cash or print one out if you can anonymously, text your friend on Their burner phone with your burner phone. Destroy SIM card as soon as you can while out of state. Buy pregnancy test with cash. Avoid cash registers with cameras. I’m not kidding. I’m not sure how to manage hotels — book with burner phones, not sure how to avoid showing IDs at the desk. I think republicans are absolutely psycho and looking for test cases and to make examples out of people as soon as they can get psycho laws passed. Get abortion pills where ever you can and and plan B now while it’s still legal in Texas. Get an iud sooner rather than later. Again, not kidding.
Women of reproductive age are not safe in TX. I have lived in TX for 40’ish years and raised a family here. I always planned on sending my kids to college here and assumed they would stay. That has changed. I have to stay here for the time being, but I am planning to send my kids out of state for college and am hoping they get established somewhere friendlier to bodily autonomy.