Benefits, burdens of Texas abortion procedure ban debated in 5-day trial

[TexasTowelie]

by Shannon Najmabadi, Texas Tribune

In a five-day trial that concluded Wednesday, lawyers for the state defended part of a Texas law that bans the most common second-trimester abortion procedure unless the fetus is deceased.

Abortion rights groups sued the state in July, arguing the provision restricting the dilation and evacuation procedure imposes an undue burden on Texas women seeking second-trimester abortions. Medical professionals deem the procedure the safest way to terminate a second-trimester pregnancy.

But the state argued in court the method is inhumane and that it's reasonable to require fetal demise before the procedure is performed.

"The state has legitimate interest ... in protecting the health of a woman and life of a fetus that may become a child," said Darren McCarty, a lawyer for the state, in closing arguments. The provision at issue, he said, "regulates the moment of death, the moment of fetal termination, and nothing more. Whether ... the lethal act is going to be, for instance, grabbing the leg and pulling it off the fetus, or whether instead the lethal act is going to be a single injection or perhaps just a snip of the umbilical cord."

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/11/08/arguments-wrap-texas-abortion-procedure-trial/