Appeals court upholds Texas abortion restrictions
Minto has been providing abortions for three decades, but he closed his clinic near the Mexico border earlier this month because of a law that imposes some of the nation’s strictest limitations on the procedure. The law, which was overwhelmingly approved last summer by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature, has helped force numerous clinics to close.
A lower court judge initially ruled that parts of the law were unconstitutional and served no medical purpose, but the 5th Circuit allowed some regulations to remain in effect while it mulled the appeal. On Thursday, the appeals court ruled that the law “on its face does not impose an undue burden on the life and health of a woman.”
The case, however, will likely end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Restrictions already in effect require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and place strict limits on physicians prescribing abortion-inducing pills. But other facets of the omnibus law won’t take effect this fall, meaning some of the 24 abortion clinics still open in Texas — a state of 26 million people — also could close.
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