Abortion providers sought to derail a new Texas law before it goes into effect next week, telling a federal court on Monday that it could harm women’s health by shuttering clinics and forcing women to take abortion pills in outmoded ways with greater risks.
“It turns back the clock two decades,” testified Dr. Paul Fine, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
But Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell said the law does not place undue burdens on abortion patients. And in a change from supporters who have always said the law is about protecting the health of women, Mitchell said that is only part of the equation.
Also of keen importance is the state’s obligation to protect “the life of the unborn.”
Mitchell readily acknowledged the law presents new obstacles, but said that the state can legally impose them as part of its desire to persuade women to reconsider abortion and “opt for childbirth.”
At issue is a sweeping new abortion law that took two contentious special sessions to pass this summer and gave rise to the almost 13-hour filibuster that catapulted Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, to national attention and gave her the impetus to enter the governor’s race.
Planned Parenthood has led the suit, arguing that the state will make legal abortions riskier and impose unconstitutional burdens by requiring all abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital and administer abortion pills using original federal protocols.
U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel has ordered an expedited two-day trial on the law, saying he recognizes that the losing side will appeal and that the decision will ultimately rest with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abortion is a “big issue in this country and a divisive issue,” Yeakel said, adding he had no intention of passing judgment on the procedure.
He said his only concern would be existing legal precedents on what is an allowable restriction and whether the Texas statute “passes muster or not.”
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