The real-world impact of SB2
Bad news in Texas:
A federal appeals court Thursday allowed Texas to immediately begin enforcing tough new abortion restrictions that will effectively close all but seven abortion facilities in America’s second most-populous state.
A panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans stayed a lower judge’s ruling while it considers the overall constitutionality of key portions of Texas’ sweeping 2013 abortion law, which Republican Gov. Rick Perry and other conservatives say is designed to protect women’s health.
Technically, the ruling didn't uphold the Texas law, but by essentially voiding the lower court ruling and allowing Texas to enforce the law, the clinics will be closed, which means that even if the court later rules that the law is unconstitutional, a tremendous amount of damage will have already been done. Specifically:
Allowing to go forward the rules on hospital-level upgrades — including mandatory operating rooms and air filtration systems — would shutter more than a dozen clinics across Texas. It means only abortion facilities will remain open in the Houston, Austin, San Antonio and the Dallas-Fort Worth areas.
The map at the top of this post shows what will happen to clinics in Texas in the wake of the ruling. You can read the text of the ruling
here.
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