U.S. Supreme Court Rules Texas Abortion Clinics Must Remain Open
It’s been a pretty terrible week for conservatives — one that has been complete with loud weeping, moaning, gnashing of teeth, and all else that accompanies the Supreme Court completely rejecting their “values.” As though things weren’t tough enough for the Right when SCOTUS legalized gay marriage nationwide, enforced protection against discrimination and segregation in housing, and upheld Obamacare, the Stupid Part of America now has to deal with another blow to their false narrative that Americans side with their utterly ridiculous viewpoints: The few remaining abortion clinics in Texas may remain open…at least, for now.
The Supreme Court voted Monday to allow nine remaining abortion clinics in Texas to remain open while justices decide whether or not to hear an appeal to a decision effectively ordering them to close. The New York Times reports:
The case concerns two parts of a state law that imposes strict requirements on abortion providers. One requires all abortion clinics in the state to meet the standards for “ambulatory surgical centers,” including regulations concerning buildings, equipment and staffing. The other requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Other parts of the law took effect in 2013, causing about half of the state’s 41 abortion clinics to close. If the contested provisions take effect, abortion rights advocates said, the number of clinics will again be halved.
“This would amount to a more than 75 percent reduction in Texas abortion facilities in just a two-year period, creating a severe shortage of safe and legal abortion services in a state that is home to more than five million reproductive–age women,” lawyers for abortion providers said in an emergency application for a stay.
If these clinics are closed, the few remaining ones would be in the metropolitan areas of Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, with “no licensed abortion facilities west of San Antonio,” and “the only abortion clinic south of San Antonio would have a highly restricted capacity.” according to providers’ attorneys. This stay is obviously a good thing — for now, women in Texas will have more options for their healthcare. However, if the Supreme Court declines to hear the appeal, many of Texas’ few remaining abortion facilities will close.
The Supreme Court had previously sided with abortion providers, allowing clinics to remain open while the case was litigated, but that ruling expired when the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld restrictions that essentially force clinics to “operate like hospital-style surgical centers.”
Conservatives, obviously, are furious. Fox News’ facebook page lit up with comments from angry “True Believers” as soon as the news hit:
The fate of women who are seeking a safe and legal abortion in the state of Texas is unclear, but it is becoming clear that conservatives in the state have one goal, and that is to keep women from having agency in choices about their own bodies- at any cost.
