Texas Abortion Restrictions Back Again
DAVID ROZYCKI
THE SIGNAL
On a recent rainy morning, Gina, a woman who identifies herself as a lawyer and by her first name only, stands under an umbrella outside of the Planned Parenthood location at 4600 Gulf Freeway in south Houston alongside other abortion opponents.
“This is not a matter that’s going to be settled in the courts,” she said, referring to recent court decisions on abortion rights in Texas. “This is a matter that is going to be settled in people’s hearts, and it is only going to be resolved when men and women accept and acknowledge what medical science has known for a thousand years, that life begins at conception and it is human life.”
The protesters had gathered outside of Planned Parenthood Oct. 30 to protest a ruling by Texas District Judge Lee Yeakel two days earlier. Yeakel had found the new Texas restrictive abortion law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals unconstitutional be reinstated, responding to an emergency appeal by Texas Attorney General Greg Abott. Abott successfully argued that the new abortion restriction requiring doctors to have admitting privileges is a constitutional use of the Legislature’s authority.
“I think it is a great day for the women of Texas because now they can be assured of better healthcare,” said Christine Melchor, executive director of Houston Coalition for Life, a nonprofit organization that represents dozens of Houston-area churches and individuals dedicated to ending abortion in Houston. “You would not go have a surgery if your doctor did not have hospital privileges.”
Terri Burke, executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, disagrees.
“There are many more providers who do it [perform abortions] illegally and, therefore, the abortions are going to be less safe and women’s health is going to be put at risk,” Burke said. “So to say that this law was passed for women’s safety is just bogus. It was passed to put up more obstacles to abortion in our state.”
The court did uphold Yeakel’s ruling that prevents Texas from enforcing U.S. Food and Drug Administration protocol for abortion-inducing drugs in cases where the woman has been pregnant between 50 and 63 days. Doctors testified before the court and said that these women would be harmed under this protocol.
The abortion restrictions in Texas are among the strictest in the United States. Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry called a special session that started July 1 and included Texas Senate Bill 5. With the Republican-led Legislature, it was passed by the Texas House July 10 and the Texas Senate July 13. Perry signed the bill into law July 18.
Democratic Senator Wendy Davis, now running for governor, rose to national fame after she launched an 11-hour filibuster against the new abortion bill, Senate Bill 5, June 25.
Davis’ filibuster helped the Democratic senators delay a vote on the bill until after midnight, the deadline for the end of the legislative session. The victory was short-lived, however.
Nikki Vogel, social work major, was among a group of protesters who traveled to the state capital in Austin in July to protest the new abortion law.
“I don’t think it is a politician’s choice; it should be the choice of the parties involved, the woman, the woman’s family, the doctor,” Vogel said. “Politicians are not doctors and should not have the right to make those choices for women.
“I personally don’t believe that life begins at conception,” Vogel added. “Generally the medical community believe that life begins at 25 weeks, which is when brain functionality actually begins to happen.”
In addition to the admitting privileges requirement and strict adherence of FDA abortion-inducing drug guidelines, the law bans abortions at 20 weeks and beginning Sept. 1, 2014, doctors to perform abortions at facilities that meet the requirements for an ambulatory surgical center.
“Right now there’s only six ambulatory surgical centers in the entire state of Texas that provide abortion care, and there’ll be very few people who between now and a year from now could raise the funds or start a building process where they would be able to build a new facility,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder of Whole Woman’s Health, a chain of women’s clinics in Texas, in a Nov. 4 interview on National Public Radio. “So you’re going to see another round of clinics closing a year from now.”
As a result of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals recent ruling, women seeking abortions have been turned away from numerous clinics across Texas because the doctors who perform abortions at these clinics do not have agreements with local hospitals to admit patients as required by the new law.
The battle over abortion in Texas is far from over, however. The recent court order is only temporary, and a complete hearing with arguments from both sides will likely be held in January of next year.
On Nov. 4, Planned Parenthood filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court to place the new abortion restrictions on hold. The request was sent to Justice Antonin Scalia, who oversees emergency matters from Texas. The provision requiring admitting privileges will remain in effect until at least Nov.12, which is the date Scalia has asked Texas to respond by.
