AUSTIN, Texas — A new Texas law going into effect Dec. 2 will criminalize prescribing abortion-inducing medication for patients past seven weeks of pregnancy, reduced down from the current 10-week limit. 

What You Need To Know

  • A new Texas law that goes into effect Dec. 2 will criminalizes prescribing abortion-inducing medication for patients past seven weeks of pregnancy

  • The law also bans the delivery of abortion-inducing medication by mail. 

  • Anti-abortion groups are celebrating this latest implementation of abortion restrictions in Texas

  • One woman says the new Texas law says it's an attack on women's health care 

​While anti-abortion groups are celebrating this latest implementation of abortion restrictions in Texas, abortion rights advocates like 28-year-old Maleeha Aziz say it's devastating. It's an issue that's especially personal for her. She says she’s where she is today because she was able to get an abortion eight years ago. 

“I finished college, I graduated with honors, I got a job that I wanted and I've done well. And I have a family that I chose to have," said Aziz. 

At 20 years old, she was a new immigrant to the U.S. from Pakistan and about to start her college education. The last thing she expected was to get pregnant. 

“You're navigating a new country, a new culture, a new legal system, everything was new. So, I was scared and I definitely did not have any intention or plan to be pregnant, or raise a child, or become a parent. And I knew I wanted an abortion. But it took a while for me to process, and because I was new to the U.S. I didn't understand the whole political debate behind abortion at the time, like that's when it hit me. That's when I was hit with learning of all these obstacles and barriers and the fact that this is actually a political debate," said Aziz. 

As a survivor of sexual assault, a surgical abortion didn’t feel like an option. 

“While a surgical abortion is perfectly safe… I just felt like mentally and emotionally I couldn't handle that because of what happened to me, which is why medication abortion was my go to," said Aziz. 

Texas already restricts abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they’re pregnant. 

“It challenges the foundation of Roe v. Wade, and it directs the cultural conversation toward the pre-born child," said Kimberlyn Schwartz, director of media and communications at Texas Right to Life. 

​"Abortion is health care, and our government should not be dictating how, when, if they even are able to access that health care," said Delma Limones, communications manager at Avow Texas. ​

The law also bans mail-order abortion medication, which anti-abortion groups say closes a loophole. 

“In order to make sure that we are protecting pre-born children and that abortion advocates in other places aren't circumventing our laws, we decided to enshrine those protections and those policies into state law to make sure that these attempts would be thwarted," said Schwartz. 

Aziz says it’s another attack on care that made the biggest difference in her life. 

“Medication abortion was essential to my health and well-being. I absolutely needed it as an option and trying to get rid of medication abortion, it’s unacceptable," said Aziz.