In bullshit news that certainly won’t start your day off right, a federal appellate court upheld the provisions of a particularly restrictive Texas abortion law.
Total garbage law HB 2 demands that in order to improve “safety,” abortion clinics must maintain the same building and equipment standards as hospital-style surgical centers, as well as requiring abortion doctors to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. Major medical associations say that these conditions do not improve patient safety. They will, however, shut down two thirds of Texas clinics. That leaves ten of them, according to The New York Times. Ten fucking clinics in a state of 27 million people.
“Women across the state of Texas face the near total elimination of safe and legal options for ending a pregnancy, and the denial of their constitutional rights,” says Nancy Northup, the president and chief executive of the Center for Reproductive Rights. 1.3 million women will now live more than 100 miles away from a clinic. El Paso will become the largest U.S. city without an abortion provider. Women seeking abortions will need to travel hundreds of miles to obtain them, an expensive and time-consuming endeavor—if that isn’t an “undue burden,” please, tell me what is.
HB 2 is one of many so-called health laws relating to abortion. These nasty little inventions look like laws to make abortion safer for women, when in reality all they do is restrict abortion access. Higher health risks are associated with delaying abortion procedures, long-distance car travel on highways, and a marked increase in unsafe self-induced abortions. And there is no rational relationship between patients’ health and hospital-admitting privileges, a federal district judge noted.
Texas attorney general Ken Paxton called the decision “a victory for life and women’s health.” (Paxton also co-authored and passed House Bill 15, you know, the super cool one where women seeking abortions must first undergo an ultrasound.) The effects of the decision are likely to be devastating to women in need of healthcare. A victory? Seriously? Millions of women don’t feel much like celebrating.
Images via Upworthy, imgbuddy.com
