Abortion Clinics

 

Witnesses in Texas trial testify why standards for abortion clinics and abortionists essential to protecting women’s health

By Dave Andrusko

Judge Lee Yeakel

The state of Texas is expected to call four more witnesses today to defend portions of HB 2 which are being challenged by abortion clinics in El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley, central Texas, and north Texas who argue the provisions amount to an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to an abortion.
Yesterday lawyers for the state presented four witnesses, including two medical doctors.
The plaintiffs are litigating one portion of the law and attempting to re-litigate a second. The former is a provision scheduled to take effect September 1 which requires abortion clinics to meet the safety standards of ambulatory surgical centers.
The latter requires that abortionists have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Recent decisions in Mississippi and Alabama have overturned similar laws, but the Texas law was upheld unanimously in March by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit [http://nrlc.cc/V0Y7oh].
The abortion clinics told Judge Lee Yeakel the decision should be revisited, given that they are located in areas that are or will be without an abortion clinic.
According to the Houston Chronicle

 “Mayra Thompson, a Dallas obstetrician and gynecologist, testified that abortions can be performed more safely in facilities that meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers. James Anderson, a Virginia emergency room physician, said patient safety and continuity of care are better when abortion doctors have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.”

Anderson added,

        “House Bill 2 is very reasonable and necessary.”

In addition, Brian Rosenthal reported, state geographer Todd Giberson

“said that even after the abortion facilities expected to close do shutter, at least 83 percent of Texas women of reproductive age will live within 150 miles of a facility, and another 3 percent will live that distance from a New Mexico facility.”

Also testifying Wednesday was Ashton Jimenez, who had an abortion a decade ago at age 18. Ms. Jimenez said “that she experienced heavy bleeding for weeks after her 2004 abortion and wished clinics had more regulations,” Rosenthal reported.

As NRL News Today has reported in previous  stories, many written by Dr. Randall K. O’Bannon, Planned Parenthood is in the midst of building surge in Texas.
Planned Parenthood is currently constructing another mega-abortion clinic in Dallas. And last March Planned Parenthood of South Texas (PPST) announced that it would be building a $5 million new center in San Antonio that would meet the new standards [http://nrlc.cc].

Source: NRLC News