Barbara Hines keeps a folder that contains hundreds of pages that documents very specific and often personal details of her life when she was a student at the University of Texas.
Hines, who is now an attorney in Austin, worked on the Roe v. Wade case and during that time she was also under FBI surveillance.
On June 16, 1972, one security informant described Hines and the other members of UT’s Women’s Liberation Movement as “weird.” The report states, “Sources stated that Women’s Liberation is basically opposed to male chauvinism to the point of eliminating the wearing of braziers and clean attire in order not be a sex symbol. The group also favors abortions.”
Hines laughed when she read that out loud. The file also noted that Hines wore dungarees and didn’t shave her legs. According to the file dates, the FBI monitored Hines over the course of three years. The investigation ended a few months before the Roe v. Wade decision came down.
“I can laugh about it but it’s actually very scary,” Hines said. “This was a security informant that was following us around.”
Now she fears that the upcoming decision from the U.S. Supreme Court could erase the work she did and the progress that’s been made since Roe v. Wade.
“I don’t want things to revert to what is what like when abortion was illegal in Texas and that was a very dangerous situation for women,” Hines said.
In the late 60’s and early 70’s Hines said she and some of the other birth control counselors helped women get to Mexico to get abortions.
A policy analyst for Texas Values, Nicole Hughens said, “I think we have to ask the question, are we going to put the health and safety of women first?”
Pro-life activists say the state law makes abortions safer. Known as House Bill 2 or HB2, the law requires abortion clinics meet the same hospital-like standards as surgical centers.
Hines said, “The goal of HB2 is to make it impossible for women to exercise their right to choose. That’s what the problem with it is. It has nothing to do with women’s health.”
If the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the law, 9-10 abortion clinics will remain open in the state and that ruling will also give the green light to others states to pass similar laws. If struck down, the decision will put an end to these type of laws all across the country.
The Texas abortion case is considered to be the biggest abortion case since Roe v. Wade.
“When Roe was decided I, as many of us, thought ‘well we are done with that now we can move on,” Hines said she can’t believe this debate is still going on.
The FBI no longer considers Hines to be a security threat but now she fears all of the progress that’s been made in the 43 years since the landmark decision will be erased and women’s reproductive rights will return to what she called, “the dark ages.”
Hughens, with Texas Values, said it would be a victory for all Texas women, a proactive step in protecting women’s health.
