New lawsuit challenges Texas abortion law
Source: San Antonio Express-News
AUSTIN — Fresh off a defeat at a federal appeals panel, abortion-rights groups have lodged a new legal challenge against Texas' sweeping abortion law, taking aim this time at a component that opponents have said will be responsible for wiping out all but six facilities throughout the state.
The Center for Reproductive Rights and Whole Woman's Health — which operates abortion clinics in Austin, Fort Worth and San Antonio — filed a lawsuit Wednesday asking a district court in Austin to block the state from implementing a portion of the law that requires clinics to meet the standards of an outpatient surgical center.
The regulation is set to kick in on September 1, and abortion-rights groups have said that clinics around the state will be unable to afford the costly upgrades, forcing them to close and leaving women in remote areas of the state without access to an abortion.
Abortion-rights groups have estimated that only six clinics throughout the state currently meet the standards prescribed by the law, and on Wednesday they said if the regulation goes into effect it would leave “fewer than 10” clinics around the state with the ability to perform abortions.
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