Texas’ new abortion law is being challenged in court courtesy of a federal lawsuit filed Friday by Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion industry perpetuator.
The lawsuit cites specific areas of the Texas abortion law, including the provisions that would impose stricter sanitary standards on abortion clinics and require providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals, NBC News reports.
Four to seven abortion clinics have said they would be forced to close their doors due to a supposed inability to meet the basic requirements outlined in the new bill, according to the Dallas Morning News. The lawsuit also opposes the provision of the bill that requires abortion medication providers follow FDA protocol for the administration of abortion-inducing pills.
Perhaps one of the biggest inconsistencies from the left is that they never respect the Democratic process when they are in the extreme minority. Indeed, that has been their rationale for attacking those who oppose Obamacare this past week. Pundits and politicians have been all over TV saying “it’s the law of the land,” so extremists like Sen. Ted Cruz should simply get over it.
Yet, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Reproductive Rights, and at least a dozen abortion clinics who stand to lose a good deal of revenue from the abortion law have joined the lawsuit.
“I grew up in Texas and learned pretty early on that women only got what they fought for,” said Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards. “I think folks in the state have never fought harder.” Except, folks in the state of Texas and, indeed the country, oppose late-term abortions and support law, such as the Texas abortion law. Despite opposition from the American people, the left continues to use the activist courts to override the will of the people.
Despite frequent interruptions from a gallery filled with extreme leftists armed with urine and other unspeakable bodily fluids – not to mention, and an 11-plus hour filibuster from State Senator Wendy Davis – the Texas Legislature earlier this year overwhelmingly passed the abortion law banning abortions after 20 weeks. It, of course, was signed into law by Republican Governor Rick Perry.
“Women shouldn’t have to go to court after every legislative session,” said Center for Reproductive Rights president Nancy Northup, adding that “women’s rights now depend on where they live.”
The pro-abortion groups argue that “rather than protecting women’s health, the Act will harm Texas women. It will also violate Plaintiffs’ and their patients’ rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
The lawsuit does not take aim at the part of the omnibus abortion legislation that bans abortions past 20 weeks of pregnancy.
“The simple answer is that you can only do so much at once,” said Jim George, one of the case’s litigators, tipping his hand at the group’s true intention. Abortions after 20 week “are relatively rare and the immediate problem we’re facing here is that there are large parts of Texas that would be effectively precluded from ever getting an abortion by the statutes,” he said.
If you believe that the groups decided not to take aim at the 20-week ban because abortions at that stage are rare, I have a bridge to sell you. Abortions that late are extremely unpopular. According to a recent poll from Quinnipiac, a plurality of American women oppose late-term abortions, with 60 percent saying they want abortion banned after 20 weeks. A WaPo/ABC news poll, conducted during the debate over the Texas abortion law found that by a margin of 56% – 27%, more Americans say they’d prefer to impose limits on abortions after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy rather than the 24-week mark established under current law in some states.
The pro-abortion groups filed suit with the U.S. District Court for the Western District, Austin Division. If Texas’ abortion law isn’t blocked in court, the new laws go into effect on October 29.
