A Texas abortion law was upheld in a federal appeals hearing court on Tuesday. The strict abortion regulations have prompted heated debate both within the state and around the country. The legislation may also mean that only seven abortion clinics will be able to remain open in Texas.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Texas to enforce abortion restrictions which mandate that clinic offering the procedure to meet “hospital-level operating standards.” The patient safety and medical standards regulations include staffing levels, air ventilation systems, and minimum room size rules.
The Texas abortion law was approved in 2013 and has been largely considered among the most stringent restrictions in the United States.
Abortion clinic owners in Texas claim they would be forced to close because of the new rules. The traditional abortion clinics in the Lone Star State, like many others, reportedly resemble doctors offices more than they do hospitals.
The abortion clinic owners also allege that the new rules governing patient safety would require millions of dollars in upgrades and are therefore unaffordable. A total of 41 abortion clinics closed in Texas in 2012. The closures were reportedly prompted by then pending regulations which would require clinic doctors to have hospital admitting privileges.
“Not since before Roe v. Wade has a law or court decision had the potential to devastate access to reproductive health care on such a sweeping scale,” Center for Reproductive Rights CEO Nancy Northrop said. “We now look to the Justices to stop the sham laws that are shutting clinics down and placing countless women at risk of serious harm.”
Although pro-abortion groups have promised to appeal the Texas abortion law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the new patient safety regulations will take effect in about three weeks.
Pro-choice activists temporarily halted the implementation of the new medical clinic standards via court action last year. Abortion rights advocacy groups maintain that if the U.S. Supreme Court does not step in and halt the implementation of the Texas abortion law in the coming weeks, some women would feel forced to “drive hundreds of miles” in order to find a doctor who offers the procedure. The federal appeals court judges ruled that a New Mexico abortion clinic is located just across the state line and can serve a “large fraction” of Texas women to prevent the extended drive “burden.”
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton heralded the federal appeals court ruling. Approximately 18 abortion clinics are currently operating in Texas, the number fluctuates depending upon the approval of hospital admitting privileges.”Abortion practitioners should have no right to operate their businesses from sub-standard facilities and with doctors who lack admitting privileges at a hospital,” Paxton said.Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and other conservatives say the standards protect women’s health. Approximately six other states have similar abortion clinic medical safety standards, but only the Texas law does not permit a waiver seeking or “grandfathering” exception.What do you think of the Texas abortion law?
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