World News Korner

Goddammit Texas!

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Only three days after a federal judge blocked a new Texas law that threatened to shut down many of the state’s abortion clinics, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, reversed the decision, saying the rule should take effect while the case is argued in the months to come.

Abortion clinic owners and women’s health advocates said the decision would have catastrophic effects because as many as 13 of the 36 clinics providing abortions in the state would have to stop doing so immediately, forcing women in large swaths of Texas to travel several hours on at least two days to obtain abortions.

The clinics forced to halt abortions have been unable to satisfy a new requirement, part of a broader anti-abortion law adopted in July, that doctors performing the procedure must have formal admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic.

Greg Abbott, the state attorney general and a Republican candidate for governor next year, filed an emergency appeal to the three-judge circuit court on Monday asking it to overrule the lower court. He said in a statement Thursday, “This unanimous decision is a vindication of the careful deliberation by the Texas Legislature to craft a law to protect the health and safety of Texas women.”

Gov. Rick Perry, who has said he hopes to abolish abortion in Texas, said in a statement, “Today’s decision affirms our right to protect both the unborn and the health of the women of Texas.”

I have to admit that I allowed myself to get a little excited when that Federal judge ruled these new restrictions unconstitutional, but I also kept in mind that we were dealing with Texas here.

So it looks as if this whole thing is headed to the Supreme Court, which some pro-choice advocates think is a good idea, however I am not one of them.

I have little confidence in this court and believe that Antony Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito are fairly salivating at the opportunity to take a crack at Roe vs Wade.

And of course this case in Texas is NOT the only opportunity for the court to rule on abortion, there is also this case from Oklahoma:

The U.S. Supreme Court could hear its first case on drug-induced abortions, after a Tuesday finding by Oklahoma’s highest court that a 2011 state law restricting the use of mifepristone was unconstitutional.

If the U.S. court decides to hear an appeal in the case, it could clarify how far states can go in restricting abortions, following a 2007 decision upholding a federal ban on so-called partial-birth abortions.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court provided the finding at the request of the U.S. court, which had asked for clarification of the state high court’s December 2012 decision striking down the drug restriction.

The state court’s prior decision, just three paragraphs long, upheld a lower-court ruling finding the restrictions on mifepristone “or any abortion-inducing drug” unconstitutional. But it left unclear whether the law constituted an outright ban on drug-induced abortions or simply regulated them.

The Southern Republicans have been working at a frenetic pace to sabotage access to abortion in virtually every state where they hold a majority, and their attempts to get a case to the Supreme Court speaks to THEIR confidence that the Court will rule in their favor.

And that should be troubling to all of us.

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