U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel?issued a 26-page order?on Monday that smacks down key provisions in Texas’ recently passed anti-abortion law. The judge ruled that a couple of provisions in Texas’ House Bill 2, were unconstitutional. One provision that was struck down would have required abortion providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Yeakel deemed that portion unconstitutional?arguing that the law:
[…] does not bear a rational relationship to the legitimate right of the State in preserving and promoting fetal life or a woman’s health and, in any event, places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus and is thus an undue burden to her. The court concludes that admitting privileges have no rational relationship to improved patient care.
In addition,?Judge Yeakel also blocked?a provision in the law that placed new restrictions on pregnancy-ending drugs, arguing that it “is clearly more burdensome to a woman” than the current protocol used by abortion doctors.
Wendy Davis put Texas’ anti-abortion legislation in the spotlight, when she mounted a valiant filibuster to stall enactment of the law.?HB2 passed the Texas House?by a 2 to 1 margin in July, but today’s ruling strips the law of key provisions and vindicates Wendy Davis and other abortion rights’ supporters. Federal courts have blocked similar measures in Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Wisconsin, but abortion opponents continue to press forward with laws that are destined to be struck down as unconstitutional by the courts.
