State of Abortion in Texas
Anti-abortion lawmakers have passed over 20 bills putting access to abortion out of reach for so many Texans. Know your rights about abortion in Texas!
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Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law one of nation’s strictest abortion measures, banning procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy
May 19th, 2021By Shannon NajmabadiThe signing of the bill opens a new frontier in the battle over abortion restrictions as first-of-its-kind legal provisions intended to make the law harder to challenge are poised to be tested in the courts.
Protesters have previously falsely reported Whole Woman’s Health clinics to state health officials for allegedly having the wrong water heater permit, not following social distancing protocols during the pandemic, and other perceived regulatory infractions, she said.
The “false reports disrupt health care services and this culture of threats and accusations is designed to intimidate providers,” she said.
About 90% of women who come to Whole Woman's Health clinics are more than six weeks into their pregnancy, she said.
Whole Woman's Health has sued Texas over abortion restrictions, and won a 2016 case that went up to the Supreme Court.
The bill was opposed by more than 300 Texas lawyers (https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A38eff803-3fd3-498b-a6b4-658305bf6beb#pageNum=2) who said it undermined longstanding rules and tenets of the legal system, including that a person must be injured to sue.
The law would also let someone file a lawsuit in their home county against an abortion clinic, and stop the case from being transferred to a different venue.
In practice, legal experts say it would be more costly and difficult for abortion providers to play legal defense before a judge hundreds of miles away, and it could let anti-abortion advocates be heard in courts that they think will be more sympathetic.
Seago, with Texas Right to Life, said it “will be interesting to see (how) the other kind of alternative avenues (handle) these debates.”
“We know how Judge (Lee) Yeakel and Judge (Sam) Sparks handle these cases,” he said, referring to two federal judges who reliably strike down Texas abortion restrictions.
Disclosure: Planned Parenthood has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here (https://www.texastribune.org/support-us/corporate-sponsors/).
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Lawsuit seeks to block Lubbock’s ordinance aimed at outlawing abortions
May 17th, 2021By Shannon NajmabadiThe American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas are suing over the West Texas city’s “sanctuary city for the unborn” ordinance.
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Lubbock votes to become the state’s largest “sanctuary city for the unborn”
May 1st, 2021By Shannon NajmabadiRead More →
More Than A Dozen GOP Bills Would Further Restrict Texans' Abortion Access Or Ban It Outright
April 7th, 2021By Shannon NajmabadiA slew of anti-abortion bills were passed by the Texas Senate in late March that, if made law, would dramatically limit Texans' access to the procedure or ban it completely. They now move to the state's lower chamber (https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/04/07/texas-lawmakers-consider-bills-to-limit-abortion-some-restrictions-approved/7127149002/), also controlled by a GOP majority.
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An Abortion Advocacy Movement for Everybody
August 17th, 2020By Blair WallaceThe ACLU of Texas and partner organizations are creating a one-of-a-kind advocacy hub for reproductive freedom advocates in Texas — all we need is you.
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SCOTUS Watch 2020: Abortion Rights Reaffirmed, for Now
July 26th, 2020By Anjali SalvadorEarlier this week, in the much anticipated June Medical Services v. Russo case, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that required abortion providers to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of their abortion clinics.
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Stopping the Anti-Abortion Ordinances of East Texas
July 26th, 2020By Anjali SalvadorIn seven Texas cities, anti-abortion politicians have named those who advocate for abortion access as “criminal organizations.” We’re suing.
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The Racist History of Abortion and Midwifery Bans
July 24th, 2020By Michele GoodwinToday’s attacks on abortion access have a long history rooted in white supremacy.
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4 People Fighting to Save Abortion Access in Texas Explain What’s at Stake
July 15th, 2020By Reina Sultan"Some states will stop at nothing to ban abortion."
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My Abortion Saved My Life. However the Supreme Court Rules, Help Is There | Opinion
June 26th, 2020By Nikiya NataleSeven years ago this week, I was pregnant. At the same time, thousands of Texans flooded the State Capitol to oppose an abortion law that would eventually lead to the loss of more than half our state's clinics and later be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Now, just four years after that decision, we're waiting for another Supreme Court ruling, on June Medical Services v. Russo, a case centered on an identical law out of Louisiana.
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After Texas’ month-long block, what does abortion care look like during COVID-19?
June 4th, 2020By Paige AlexandriaA global pandemic is not the time to restrict access to time-sensitive and essential health care, and yet, that’s exactly what Gov. Greg Abbott and indicted-AG Ken Paxton did when they blocked most abortions in the state, denouncing it as non-essential.
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Inside the Plan to End Legal Abortion
May 22nd, 2020By Esther WangWhiteface is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it blip in Texas’s oil patch 50 minutes west of Lubbock that only a few hundred people call home, so tiny that describing it as a small town would be a stretch. But on a rainy evening in mid-March, several dozen of its residents along with people from neighboring townscrammed into a worn-down community center on the town’s main strip for a meeting of Whiteface’s elected officials, an unusually large audience for their regular council meeting.
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