Texas asks court to allow closure of most abortion clinics
NEW ORLEANS — Texas asked a federal appeals court Friday to allow the state to immediately enforce a law requiring all abortion clinics to adhere to costly standards required for walk-in surgical clinics, which would close more than half of the state's abortion facilities.
Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to temporarily reinstate the requirement, which was ruled unconstitutional by a lower court last month. The New Orleans-based appeals court has already upheld another new abortion restriction that has shuttered several abortion clinics in Texas.
Enforcement of the surgical-standards provision would close 13 of the 20 abortion clinics currently in operation statewide, said Stephanie Toti, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights. The New York-based group is representing four clinics and four doctors.
That would leave seven abortion facilities in the second most-populous state in the nation. Mitchell said he believed that would be enough, because "the vast majority of the state's reproductive-age women will live within 150 miles" of the remaining clinics.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20140912-texas-asks-court-to-allow-closure-of-most-abortion-clinics.ece
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