A Ray of Hope for Women in the Lone Star State: Victory in the Supreme Court
At 7:15 on Tuesday night, we learned that the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked enforcement of part of the notorious Texas law that had shuttered 80 percent of the state’s abortion clinics.
The Court’s decision was only a few sentences long, but the effect of those sentences is literally life-altering for women and families in the state. Because of this decision, clinics will be allowed to reopen, and they will be able to provide high-quality, compassionate care to women.
Texas' HB 2 has wreaked havoc on women and the health centers that provide them care. After the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the new law to take effect, clinics were forced to immediately close their doors because they were unable to make prohibitively costly, medically unnecessary renovations to their facilities.
Patients had to be turned away at the door. Appointments were cancelled. And the remaining providers were inundated. One of my clients, Routh Street Women’s Clinic in Dallas, turned dozens of patients away, including a 13-year-old rape victim who was scheduled to come to Dallas from a town 170 miles away.
These closures come on the heels of many other clinic closures after the first part of HB2, which makes doctors enter into an unneeded business arrangement with hospitals, took effect. In total, HB2 had left only eight clinics for the 5.5 million women of reproductive age who live in Texas. The Supreme Court’s temporary blocking of the law is a breath of relief to the women and families of Texas. For the moment, more women in Texas are able to get care, and these truly amazing providers are able to see patients again.
But this victory is tenuous, and the court battle is far from over. In early 2015, the Fifth Circuit is set to make a final decision about whether HB2 can again force clinics to close, and the case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court again.
We hope justice will prevail, and that women in Texas will always be able to get the quality health care that they need.
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