In a sweeping victory for women, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a Texas law requiring that abortion clinics meet the same health and safety standards as facilities that provide other outpatient surgeries.
According to Americans United for Life (AUL), a leading pro-life legal organization, the Fifth Circuit handed down a decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Lakey in which it found that the medical requirement in the new law advances Texas’ interests in safeguarding maternal health and protecting women from substandard abortion facilities and practices.
Texas’ ambulatory surgical center standards were part of Texas House Bill 2, enacted in 2013, with the help of AUL experts. The measure also requires that abortion providers maintain hospital admitting privileges to ensure that women facing post-abortion complications receive proper emergency care; prohibits abortions after 20-weeks; and, specifically using AUL model language, regulates the provision of dangerous abortion-inducing drugs including RU-486.
The Fifth Circuit upheld the admitting privileges requirement and abortion-inducing drugs regulations in March 2014.
AUL filed an amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) brief in the Fifth Circuit in support of the mandate that abortion clinics meet the same health and safety standards as other facilities performing outpatient surgeries.
“Texas has struck a decisive blow for women’s health and safety against a predatory abortion industry,” said Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest. “A largely under-monitored, under-supervised, and secretive abortion industry tells women ‘trust but don’t verify that our clinics are clean and safe.’ No longer should women be abandoned to self-serving and false assurances from an industry that puts profits over people.”
This case is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. AUL Vice President of Legal Affairs Denise Burke, writing in The Federalist, predicted in January 2015 that the high court would eventually review the life-affirming provisions of Texas House Bill 2 and, in doing so, could dramatically change America’s abortion landscape. Notably, the Supreme Court has never ruled on the constitutionality of comprehensive health and safety standards for abortion facilities.
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