Abortion providers are planning to ask the US supreme court to consider Texas’s severe anti-abortion powers after a federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the most restrictive provisions of a state law that could result in the second largest state in the US having fewer than 10 abortion clinics, according to theGuardian.
A three-judge panel on the fifth US circuit court of appeals, found that Texas could require abortion clinics to meet hospital-level operating standards, which opponents say are too expensive for small providers and clinics.
The state argued in a challenge brought by abortion providers that the law’s building and equipment regulations are meant to protect women’s health.
Opponents of the Republican-backed law, among the most restrictive in the US, say the decision could leave women across the vast expanse of Texas with access to just a handful of clinics, forcing them to travel more than 100 miles to seek an abortion.
“Not since before Roe v Wade [in 1973] has a law or court decision had the potential to devastate access to reproductive healthcare on such a sweeping scale,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which challenged the law.
