(TX) Appeals court allows abortion restrictions to begin [View all]

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Last edited Thu Oct 31, 2013, 10:13 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: Houston Chronicle

AUSTIN _ A federal appeals court ruling Thursday gives Texas the green light to start enforcing a new abortion restriction that a lower court judge said posed an undue burden on women.

The decision by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals was a huge victory for Attorney General Greg Abbott and Texas abortion opponents, temporarily lifting an injunction that prevented the provisions from going into effect. The provision requires abortion doctors to gain admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled the admitting privileges provision unconstitutional, saying it posed an undue burden on women has no "rational relationship to improved patient care."

But a federal three-judge panel in New Orleans on Thursday found Yeakel's finding of a lack of rational relationship "is one step removed from repudiating the longstanding recognition by the Supreme Court that a State may constitutionally require that only a physician may perform an abortion." The court, in a 20-page opinion, also said the provision does not "impose a substantial obstacle to abortions."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Appeals-court-grants-stay-on-abortion-ruling-4944605.php

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See also:
AP, Court reinstates most of Texas' new abortion rules
Austin American-Statesman, Appeals court lifts ban on Texas abortion law

And Think Progress reports all 3 judges are George W. Bush nominees.