Stage Seven: Original editorial or commentary #2

resource: Fight over disposal of fetal remains will head to trial

Abortion laws have been a fickle subject of much debate amongst Texans for quite a while. However, a specific part of the abortion law concerning fetal disposal methods have been hotly disputed when the law itself was supposed to be put in effect on December 16, 2016. The main conflict point at hand is the argument over whether fetal tissues are considered as human remains or not. Based on this argument, it might impose a requirement from current fetal disposal into sanitary landfills to mandatory cremation or burials. All of this stems from the core argument of whether or not fetal remains should be treated humanely after abortion.

The main problems are not all based in ethics as cremation and burial requires additional expenses for which who the payer is, is still being disputed in the law. The cost estimation is coming out at about $400 to $700. My take is that fetal remains should be considered as human lives and should be treated as such. In terms of economic impacts, the law could allow mass cremation or burials, which were estimated at $0.60 per patient, offering solutions for possible additional costs. However, I do believe these additional costs should not serve as a deterrent for people that wants to have an abortion. Although this might cause additional health care coverage questions as well as opening up questions on ethics and morality, I strongly believe the state should have a hand in providing for abortion patients.

           
            Perhaps requiring patients to be prompted on whether they care about the fetal remains and whether they should be treated humanely, or not care at all. For those that do not care about the outcome of the fetal remains, mass cremation and burials can be provided by the states for the hospitals or third-party as $0.60 is a manageable economic cost that the state can and should burden for the sake of ethics on fetal lives.