Texas Pro-Life Law's Key Provisions Upheld by Appeals Court

Ben Johnson : Mar 28, 2014
LifeSiteNews.com

The judges ruled that requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges and to follow the FDA-approved use of abortion-inducing drugs "on its face does not impose an undue burden on the life and health of a woman."

(New Orleans, LA)—Two key provisions of Texas' hotly debated pro-life law have been upheld by an all-female panel of judges from a U.S. Appeals Court today in a ruling that invoked the notorious case of abortionist Kermit Gosnell. (Photo via LSN)

The panel of judges from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles and to follow the FDA-approved use of abortion-inducing drugs "on its face does not impose an undue burden on the life and health of a woman."

"The State’s witnesses also explained that admitting–privileges requirement was needed to maintain the standard of care within the abortion practice," the panel wrote in its 34-page opinion. "The specter of Dr. Kermit Gosnell informed the testimony of" two witnesses, they said, who "explained that the credentialing process entailed in the regulation reduces the risk that abortion patients will be subjected to woefully inadequate treatment.

A group of Texas abortion providers filed Planned Parenthood v. Gregory Abbott to challenge these aspects of H.B. 2, the bill Governor Rick Perry signed into law after a marathon filibuster by State Senator Wendy Davis earlier this summer.

The abortion giant, aided by the ACLU, did not challenge the law's limiting of abortion to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, nor its provision requiring abortion facilities to meet the same health and safety standards as other ambulatory surgical centers.

But it did state that the other provisions would close abortion offices and effectively deny Texas women the ability to obtain an abortion.