Texas Abortion Law Is Fully Restored on Appeal
Texas Abortion Law Is Fully Restored on Appeal
(CN) - Texas can require a contentious informed-consent process for abortions and penalize doctors who don't abide by the changes, the 5th Circuit ruled Tuesday.
Metropolitan Ob-Gyn P.A. dba Reproductive Services of San Antonio and its owner and director, Dr. Alan Braid, filed a federal class action on June 13, decrying Texas House Bill 15 as unconstitutional.
Effective Sept. 1, 2011, the bill amended the Texas Woman's Right to Know Act and altered the process through which physicians obtain informed consent to perform abortions in the state. Physicians can lose their licenses for violating the provisions, which places several requirements on the doctors such as making them conduct a sonogram and provide the patient with images and sounds of the fetus.
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Judge Patrick Higginbotham wrote a separate concurring opinion to "offer a different accent upon the appropriate role of the First Amendment in this case."
"To my eyes there are two settled principles in speech doctrine that inform our decision today," Higginbotham wrote. "First, in protection of a valid interest the state need not remain neutral in its views and may engage in efforts to persuade citizens to exercise their constitutional right to choose a state-preferred course. Second, the state cannot compel a citizen to voice the state's views as his own. It is immediately apparent that both of these principles are implicated by state regulation of doctors' communications with their patients. It is equally apparent that, given the Supreme Court's decision in Casey, each is fully and appropriately abided today, without diminishing their vitality."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/11/42950.htm
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