--- title: Abortion Laws Like S.B. 8 Make My Job as a Pastor Difficult description: The Rev. Lauren Jones Mayfield says it is her duty to support community members and offer counseling, and abortion laws like Texas' S.B. 8 mean she could get sued for that. canonical: https://time.com/6099322/abortion-texas-faith/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-09-20T19:36:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:42:30.175Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Abortion Laws Like S.B. 8 Make My Job as a Pastor More Difficult og:description: "My colleagues and I could be sued for supporting our communities and providing counsel." og:url: https://time.com/6099322/abortion-texas-faith/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd9b449064eeb26cd/698a1d0ee76ad209a46393db/texas-abortion-faith-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: texas-abortion-faith-protest og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Abortion Laws Like S.B. 8 Make My Job as a Pastor More Difficult twitter:description: "My colleagues and I could be sued for supporting our communities and providing counsel." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd9b449064eeb26cd/698a1d0ee76ad209a46393db/texas-abortion-faith-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # I Can't Do My Job as a Pastor With Abortion Laws Like Texas' S.B. 8 in Place > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=194d5cbe-7a8a-4210-9700-68944c40fc4c&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: True Stories, Hard Choices: Part 1 [Watch (HLS stream): True Stories, Hard Choices: Part 1](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fF6xepgj.m3u8) (12:23)  _Published 2016-09-28. Filmmaker Dawn Porter looks at the racial politics of abortion in America today._ by [Lauren Jones Mayfield](https://time.com/author/lauren-jones-mayfield/) ## Lauren Jones Mayfield Sep 20, 2021 7:36 PM UTC  Abortion rights activists rally at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas on Sept. 11, 2021. Abortion rights activists rally at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas on Sept. 11, 2021. Jordan Vonderhaar—Getty Images by [Lauren Jones Mayfield](https://time.com/author/lauren-jones-mayfield/) ## Lauren Jones Mayfield Sep 20, 2021 7:36 PM UTC As a Baptist pastor from a midsize Southern city in a conservative red state, I know firsthand who suffers when politicians attempt to limit the right of every person to determine whether, when and how to become parents. I also know how vital it is for people of faith to speak up in these religious spaces and show how strongly we disagree with government officials who would play politics with the health and well-being of people from our communities. That’s why when I was invited to join Vice President Kamala Harris’ roundtable of patients and health care providers facing the impact of [abortion restrictions](https://time.com/5753300/heartbeat-bill-civil-rights-law/) in their states this month, I was grateful for the opportunity to represent the tens of thousands of clergy around the country who strongly support access to reproductive health care—including abortion access—as a moral issue and a calling supported by our faith’s first teaching to do no harm and love our neighbors. I wanted the Vice President to understand how a law like Texas’s radical [Senate Bill 8](https://time.com/6093905/texas-abortion-ban-abortion-rights/)–which bans most abortions after around six weeks and empowers private citizens to sue anyone who helps a pregnant person get an abortion after that period–might make my job more difficult in Kentucky. **_Read More:_**[_In Texas, Rape Crisis Centers Struggle to Respond to New Abortion Law_](https://time.com/6095405/texas-abortion-law-rape-crisis-centers/) --- ### More from TIME --- As a minister to young adults, I sit with people trying to discern what’s next in their life. My job involves listening deeply, affirming God’s presence and supporting decisions. But under this extreme [Texas law](https://time.com/6095100/texas-abortion-law-politics/), someone can be sued by a neighbor, an abusive partner or even a complete stranger simply for helping a patient access abortion care. That even includes clergy members who provide counseling to members of our communities who have decided that having an abortion is best for them. In short, my colleagues and I could be sued for supporting our communities and providing counsel.  Vice President Kamala Harris meets with abortion and reproductive health providers and patients to discuss the impact of Texas Senate Bill 8 and other restrictions on reproductive care at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 9, 2021. Kent Nishimura—Los Angeles Times/Getty Images Furthermore, this vigilante approach may deter someone from confiding in their pastor. When folks cannot seek the care of their pastor, holy ground is jeopardized, and everyone is hurt. The ripple effects of this unconstitutional law extend beyond Texas courthouses and into the sanctums of our most sacred relationships. **_Read More:_**[_Why Access to Birth Control Is No Substitute for Abortion Rights_](https://time.com/6099174/abortion-rights-birth-control/) Essentially, S.B. 8 cruelly isolates people from their support systems. Instead of passing laws that help keep people safe, some politicians are passing laws that put people at higher risk for adverse health outcomes and other negative impacts, especially if they’re already from vulnerable communities. At a moment when we have all come to understand the [importance of our support networks amid crisis and uncertainty](https://time.com/collection/apart-not-alone/5809170/coronavirus-finding-community/), patients now stand to find themselves alone. In my faith tradition, Jesus commands us to love one another. Jesus did not admonish his followers to judge their neighbor, to shame their neighbor or to keep watch that their neighbors follow the law. Jesus certainly did not invite his followers to sue their neighbor. **_Read More:_**[_The Supreme Court Just Took Up a Case That Poses a Major Threat to Roe v. Wade_](https://time.com/6048930/supreme-court-mississippi-abortion-roe-v-wade/) A young woman once called me from her college dorm room in tears, overwhelmed by an unexpected pregnancy. Her conservative religious parents had abandoned her, and she was scared that God would too. She asked me for reassurance that she was still loved. As a pastor and as a Christian, I knew it was my duty to offer her the love of God. Those in fear and despair should never be abandoned, and we certainly should never pass laws that prevent us from showing love and care to our neighbors. Love means supporting people as they make the [reproductive decisions that are right for them](https://time.com/6074553/abortion-supreme-court-limbo/). Love means standing by our neighbors as they determine the most intimate and personal parts of their lives. To love them is to trust them. Let’s choose love. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] My mother grew up in New York City, in Harlem in the 1950's. Her father was a physician and a surgeon at Harlem Hospital. I only knew a little bit about this part of my mother's life, so I asked her to tell me more about it. [ MUSIC ] Well as you know my family was the first family to move into our building. [ MUSIC ] I was I think about two years, [ UNKNOWN ] And that was my world. [ MUSIC ] My grandfather had a cousin who was a doctor living in North Carolina. Cousin Albert had more work than he could handle and he asked my grandfather comes South to help out. So my grandfather moved his family to Sleepy Wadesboro, North Carolina. Where he worked as local country doctor. My time in Wadesboro was very different than my time in New York. Most of his clients were very poor. People paid him in corn. And put your hugs and so we have lots of food. My bedroom faced over a highway up on a hill and one night all of the sudden I see like The on highway, all these cars like a row, and there is a trail of white sheets. I didn't know what the Coolock clan was, but i knew that everybody in the house was afraid. And one night The sheriff came, Albert poured drinks, they sat around chatting for a while and then they took him away. He was arrested. He was arrested because a white woman reported that he had performed an abortion for her. I never knew about this part of my family history. I knew that the issue of abortion in America has always been racially charged, but until I started making Trapped, my feature documentary about abortion, I never really considered how the experience of having an abortion might be different for black women. My friends it is a baby. It is a child. According to the Center for Disease Control, black women have abortions at five times the rate of white women. Certainly the reasons are complicated. But experts point to barriers like a lack of access to education, reproductive health care, and income disparity. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] You pretend to be a When are you going to come back to Christ? Dr. Parker, much like my grandfather did, travels across the south providing women access to medical care, including abortion. He's become a well- known advocate for access to abortion care. If you're trying to wipe out the black race. Since you noticed, they're trained to wipe them out. I was prepared for protesters, but it was still shocking to hear the protesters call Dr. Parker a filthy negro abortionist. They were even disgusted with me, for my position, while making this film. Are you pro- choice? I am pro- choice, yes. It's easy to be pro- choice because you're not the one being killed. That's all I have to say. That's right, amen, yeah, what do you got to say about that? That's all I have to say. Hey, were you pro- choice about slavery, too? Cuz that was a privacy issue back in the 1800s. Were you pro- choice about that? You think slavery and abortion [ INAUDIBLE ] Pro choice about slavery, Dred Scott all that. i don; t understand your point. Good job. Is it pro choice about slavery? [ LAUGH ] I don't know why you keep bringing race into the conversation. You know because we like black babies, black babies matter to us but apparently not to you. And you don't care one bit because you're pro choice. You stand beside those Folks, good job! Good job! You're a disgrace to your race! It was absolutely surreal to hear older white men lecture me about the impact of abortion on the lives of black women. Meanwhile I was interviewing real women inside the clinics hearing their painful stories and how hard their choices were. It made me realize just how infrequently black women's stories are really ever told. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] All right, put today's date in this blank. You're gonna sign and date here. Nobody's forcing you to have this done. You do have 48 hours to change your mind. We did an ultrasound to find out how far along you are. You are less than 19 weeks pregnant. Do you know what your blood type is? No. Okay. Questions? No. All right, is there a reason why you didn't give me an emergency contact? Really don't have family here. Okay. Anybody? Friend? Church member? Boyfriend? Nobody Okay! On the other procedure, you gotta have to give me someone and it doesn't have to be someone in this vicinity. But if something happens to you here in the clinic, I need to be able to notify someone, okay? So whether it be your mom and she lives in another state, that's fine. But I still need an emergency contact okay? Now what are you going to do as far as the drive on the day of the procedure? A cab maybe. Okay. You're gonna have to have someone with you I can't put you in a cab sedated with someone you don't know and I don't know. What we can do is talk to the volunteers maybe. Sometimes they will Assist if you don't have a driver, because I'm not comfortable sending you with someone I don't know. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I am 20. What do you do? As a far as work? Yeah. I'm a cashier at Walmart. I make $ 9 in hour. Being a single parent is not easy. I'm starting to become a paramedic. I just feel like with another child then what I'm trying to do right now. I don't feel like I can do it. So I'm just trying to pursue my dreams so I can just had better for my son. How old is your kid? My son is 19 months. he's a great kid and I just want to take care of him. I don't really think I can do a second child, not by myself. How do you feel about your decision? Like a bad person. Say more about that. Why do you feel bad? Are you a religious person? I try to be. What does your religious understanding say to you about abortion? I know that God don't want this for me, but I did pray on it. I just want him to understand it. I feel like I should go through with it. Mm- hm. I just want him to understand. I don't want him to be upset with me, because if I do it, [ SOUND ] Continuous in that what I would want for you is that you'd be able say, you know what that was a jacked up situation, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd make the same decision because I made the best decision I could make. And that way you don't have to second guess yourself and nobody who's walking in your shoes can question you because they're not in your shoes. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I'm not a good person at all. I just feel like a bad person, a bad female. Okay, the only rule I'm gonna give you is you may not say I'm not a good person any more, cuz that is not the case. An unintended pregnancy is an unintended An unintended pregnancy is an unintended pregnancy. That's all it is. That's all it is. So, no more. Okay. Okay? I'm not kidding. As crazy as it sounds I said I would rather an abortion than to give the baby up to a family I don't know. Because if I wanna hold it in, that's love. And I don't wanna, [ SOUND ]. Sorry. [ SOUND ] And I can give that love away. [ SOUND ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] Deciding to have an abortion is never easy, but in many places it's also incredibly logistically difficult. Especially for black women. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] In June of 2016 the United States Supreme Court determined that so- called Trap Laws, which have resulted in the closure of so many abortion clinics are illegal, but there is still only one abortion clinic in the entire state of Mississippi. Luckily there's also one woman there who always listens. [ MUSIC ]. I live in Jackson Mississippi and I work at Jackson Women's Health, the abortion clinic. Getting ready to walk through those doors is the hardest part. And she's probably torn so many different directions. By the time she gets to me, she's barely sure of what she needs to do for herself. A lot of the private counseling that I do I hear interesting stories and most of them is about being torn one way or another. My name is Betty. Everyone around here calls me Ms. Betty, and what I do is I am available to you to talk to you about whatever's going on with you. What we usually do is do a group counseling where I tell you what to expect on surgery day. For me, being a mother is everything. Not only am I a mother to my two boys, I am a mother to the rest of the women in this clinic. [ MUSIC ] I think the protesters think that these women just get up in the morning and decide to go have an abortion. When they have put their heart and souls into their decisions and have to walk through that gauntlet out there to even come in and discuss with us the process. [ MUSIC ] I hate to think about what would happen to the women of Mississippi if this clinic closes. [ MUSIC ] It's tough for women right now. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ]. Ms. Betty is like a mother to her patients. But over and over in the three years of making the film trapped, I heard so many women tell me about their shame In how they felt they were letting their own family down, particularly their mothers. And even though I was making a documentary about abortion and interviewing so many women. I'd realized I've never asked my own mother if abortion had impacted her life. 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