The Republican-dominated Texas Legislature moved closer on Monday to passing some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the country, as the State House of Representatives approved a bill that would ban abortion clinics to the same standards as hospital-style surgical centers, the New York Times reported.
Senate Bill 5, as it is known, would require clinics to be surgical centers and mandating that doctors have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. These measures will would force dozens of abortion providers in the state to close, news reports said.
Abortion opponents, including Texas Governor Rick Perry, said the legislation was aimed at protecting women's health and unborn children.
"This bill would endanger the health and safety of millions of women in Texas," said Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and a daughter of Ann Richards, the former Texas governor. "If this passes, abortion would be virtually banned in the state of Texas, and many women could be forced to resort to dangerous and unsafe measures."
The State House approved the measures Monday morning on a 95-to-34 vote. Lawmakers first gave preliminary approval to the bill shortly after 3 a.m., following hours of debate and attempts at delays by Democrats, news reports said.
The State Senate had passed a version of the bill last week, but the legislation did not contain the ban on abortions after 20 weeks. The Senate was scheduled to take up the bill passed by the House on Tuesday under a tight deadline. It has until midnight Tuesday to take action, when the special session of the Legislature ends.
If the bill passes, Texas would join Alabama, Nebraska, Oklahoma and eight other states that have approved so-called fetal pain initiatives, Elizabeth Nash, the state issues manager of the Guttmacher Institute said. The institute is a research organization that supports abortion rights. Supreme Court rulings have established that a woman has a right to an abortion until the fetus is visible outside the womb, at around the 24th week of pregnancy. 20-week limits in Arizona, Georgia and Idaho were blocked by court orders, The New York Times reported.
The bill's opponents, including the Texas Medical Association and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, were outraged by the decisions. Calls of 'Shame!" bellowed after the preliminary predawn vote at the Capitol in Austin. They argued that abortion providers already follow standard regulations and that the legislation would shutter all but 5 of the 42 facilities providing safe, legal abortions in Texas, including those run by Planned Parenthood as well as other entities.
State Senator Wendy Davis sought a filibuster of Senate Bill 5 on Monday saying, "members I'm rising on the floor today to humbly give voice to thousands of Texans who have been ignored," Sen. Davis said in the opening minutes of her filibuster. "The leadership may not want to listen to TX women, but they will have to listen to me. I intend to filibuster this bill," the state senator tweeted.
