With the Texas abortion ban bill now nine months old, families are beginning to feel the impact of the rules that make it impossible in the state to get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.  As the Washington Post details, Texas teenager Brooke Alexander found out she was pregnant two days before the law took effect; by the time she had made a decision to seek an abortion, it was too late.

Like many Texans, Alexander could not afford to miss work, to travel out of state, or to find a private provider who would charge her hundreds of dollars to get an abortion.  So as perhaps one of the first women to be forced into parenthood by the Texas government, the 18-year-old Alexander is now the mother of twin daughters.

Kicked out of her house by her mother, Alexander now lives with her boyfriend’s father, while her boyfriend, the girls’ father, works shifts at a local burrito joint for $9.75 per hour.

Texas is about to see a whole lot more people in Alexander’s circumstances:  unable to return to school or work, few social safety net programs to assist, little family help, and a child to support.  The growing strain on Texas’s already limited social services will be immense:  the people most impacted by the law are already on the edges of society.  Wealthy people will be able to afford the drive to a neighboring state or to find a reputable doctor who can perform the procedure under the radar.