Federal Judge Deals Last Minute Win for Texas Women

In a decision welcomed by women’s health advocates, a federal judge on Friday struck down (pdf) new restrictive abortion regulations in Texas due to their “unconstitutional undue burden” on women.

The case focused on part of HB2  that requires abortion clinics to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers.

If it had gone into effect on Monday, the law could have slashed the number of abortion providers in the state from just 19 to a mere 8.

In his opinion, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel states that in addition to the “ambulatory-surgical-center requirement [being] unconstitutional because it imposes an undue burden on the right of women throughout Texas to seek a previability abortion,” the admitting privileges requirement of the law which would have been imposed on clinics in McAllen and El Paso is also unconstitutional, as it, coupled with the surgical center requirement, would have placed “an undue burden on the right of women in the Rio Grande Valley, El Paso, and West Texas.”

Yeakel emphasizes the particular burden the restrictions would have placed on Texas women who do not have economic privilege. He states, “The act’s two requirements erect a particularly high barrier for poor, rural or disadvantaged women throughout Texas, regardless of the absolute distance they may have to travel to obtain an abortion… Roe‘s essential holding guarantees to all women, not just those of means, the right to a previability abortion.”