August 27, 2014      12:27 PM
Ruling on Texas abortion law could come as soon as today
Federal judge has demanded data, not anecdotes, on access to procedure
US District Judge
Lee Yeakel could issue a ruling on the challenge to Texas’ new abortion law
as early as today, opening the door to one more appeal before the Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
On Tuesday, parties that have challenged the Texas law
noted the convergence of challenges to it. In Alabama and
Mississippi, the Center for Reproductive Rights has
seen some narrow wins. New rulings are expected out of Texas and Wisconsin this
week. And new requirements go into effect in Louisiana and Texas
next week and in Oklahoma in November.
Abortion clinics in Texas, represented in part by
attorneys from the Center for Reproductive Rights, have brought two of the
three likely challenges to the law: Hospital admitting privileges for
physicians who perform abortions and the requirement to upgrade clinics to
ambulatory surgical centers. The last expected challenge would be to the
20-week cut-off for the performance of procedural abortions.
The challenge before Yeakel, filed by Whole
Woman’s Health, is narrowed to the legal concept of “undue burden” on
women but only in specific areas of the state. If the requirement of ambulatory
surgical centers is upheld in Texas, the number of abortion clinics would drop
drastically to probably no more than eight or nine across the state. Yeakel’s primary directive to lawyers was to argue whether
such requirements would put an undue burden on women who are hours from a
clinic, in the Rio Grande Valley or El Paso.
By Kimberly Reeves
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