Federal Appeals Court Upholds Texas Abortion Law

[Webster]

....safe, legal & rare....isn't that what we'd like to see in regards to abortion?

(Wall Street Journal) A federal appeals court upheld a Texas law that requires abortion clinics to qualify as “ambulatory surgical centers,” a decision that opponents say will result in the shutdown most clinics in the state and leave as few as seven operating.

The plaintiffs, a group of abortion clinics and doctors, argued that the 2013 law unconstitutionally restricts the right to obtain an abortion.

But in a ruling Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said the plaintiffs failed to prove that and lifted an injunction issued by a lower court to prevent the enforcement of key elements of the law.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which helped represent the plaintiffs, said it would file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.

“If permitted to take effect, the impact will be devastating for women in Texas seeking access to abortion services,” said Stephanie Toti, a lawyer for the center.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, praised the decision, saying the Texas law “both protects the unborn and ensures Texas women are not subjected to unsafe and unhealthy conditions.”

Federal courts have been grappling with similar measures passed in other states that increase requirements on clinics and doctors. Supporters say they protect women’s lives by raising medical standards, but opponents say they diminish access to abortion by requiring clinics to spend millions of dollars to update facilities that are already safe.

The courts’ position on them has so far been mixed. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit blocked a law in Mississippi requiring doctors who perform abortions to get admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, but upheld a similar rule in Texas.

Enforcement of the Texas measure resulted in the closure of about half of the 41 clinics that had previously operated in the state, according to officials with the Center for Reproductive Rights.

On Tuesday, the center said the most recent court decision will likely narrow the number of clinics to the seven that already qualify as surgery centers, leaving large swaths of the state without abortion providers. Women who live in El Paso, for example, might have to drive more than a thousand miles to get an abortion, they said.

“There aren’t a lot of new providers opening their doors,” said Brigitte Amiri, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who specializes in reproductive rights.

But abortion opponents said enforcement of the law will ensure women receive better care.

“Texans should have full freedom to prioritize women’s health and safety over the bottom line of abortionists,” said Natalie Decker, a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom, in a statement.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

Good to see the states fighting back on cold blooded murder of innocent human beings.

 

[Webster]

Good to see the states fighting back on cold blooded murder of innocent human beings.

This is another one of those issues, Liberty, where my views have changed over the years. Yes, I did believe in the idea of "safe, legal and rare" in regards to abortion, but medicine has evolved so much in the years since Roe v. Wade that it should be possible to push forward (or earlier) the limit on when abortions should be allowed.

There's also one other aspect of Roe that's bothered me at times; at the time of its' passing, most states had liberalized abortion laws in the U.S., yet the Court saw fit to impose a 50-state solution on the issue. Along those lines, the Court has yet to decide the Marriage Equality cases and while part of me wishes that the Court would just make their damn decision one way or the other, part of me worries that the Court could pull a Roe here and cause a similar backlash.