Pro-lifers have been battling abortion on the state level by pushing legislation requiring that abortion clinics meet the same standards as hospitals and other surgical centers. This has been putting abortion clinics out of business.
Pro-abortion activists have challenged those laws. But a federal appeals court has ruled that the state of Texas, which enacted one of the strictest set of regulations, has every right to regulate abortion clinics in this way. This sets up an appeal to the Supreme Court. But, in the meantime, the number of abortion clinics in Texas will dwindle from 41 to 7.
From Court Upholds Texas Law Criticized as Blocking Access to Abortions – NYTimes.com:
A federal appellate court upheld some of the toughest provisions of a Texas abortion law on Tuesday, putting more than a dozen of the state’s remaining abortion clinics at risk of permanently shutting their doors and leaving the nation’s second-most populous state with possibly seven providers. There were 41 when the law was passed.
Abortion providers and women’s rights groups vowed a quick appeal to the United States Supreme Court, setting the stage for what could be the most far-reaching ruling in years on when legislative restrictions pose an “undue burden” on the constitutional right to an abortion.
A three-judge panel of the appellate court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, sided for the most part with Texas and the abortion law the Republican-dominated Legislature passed in 2013, known as House Bill 2.
The judges ruled that Texas can require all abortion clinics in the state to meet the same building, equipment and staffing standards as hospital-style surgical centers, which could force more than a dozen clinics whose facilities do not meet the new standards to close, abortion rights advocates said.
In addition to the surgical standards, the court also upheld a requirement that doctors performing abortions obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of a clinic. The court said that except as applied to one doctor working in McAllen in South Texas, the provision did not put an unconstitutional burden on women seeking abortions.
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