A border clinic in Texas is among the abortion clinics to still open amidst the controversy regarding the law that closed more than thousands of such in the last few years.
According to Bend Bulletin, two men are standing along the Rio Grande Valley's lone abortion clinic with a sign reading 'Pray to end abortion.' The men were a security guard and a protester who are greeting the patients while holding the sign and a rosary. Above them is the writings saying 'We are open!' for now, as the Whole Woman's Health is the lead plaintiff before the U.S. Supreme Court. Their argument involves blocking the Texas law, which has already contributed to the closing of the state's 40 abortion clinic.
It is known that abortions in Texas have been down by almost 9,000 since 2014 as reported by Breitbart. Texas legislators indicate that this is something to celebrate as there is a decrease in number from 63,000 of 2013 to 54,000 in 2014. Texas Senator Paul Bettencourt praised this outcome, saying "This is really what the pro-life movement is all about. Saving one child's life so that they and thousands more like them will be born every year."
However, Think Progress wrote that the law place an undue burden' on women who are seeking abortion. The Texas law also known as HB2 is using elaborate tactics to essentially diminish abortion clinics into extinction and it will definitely cause consequences on women. A research group based in the University of Texas tracked the reproductive health policies for years and painted how burdensome the HB2 is to Texas women. They added that from 36 clinics in 2012, it is down to only 10 and due to this, women who wants to take an abortion must travel for an average 85 miles for the procedure.
The Texas law or HB2 requires provision that abortion facilities comply with the standards already in place for ambulatory surgical centers. This means that the law wants the same procedure done in hospital to be conducted in abortion clinics or else, they'll be closing. Lastly, they require that practitioners of performing abortions must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the facility.
