A third of Texas’ abortion clinics will stay closed after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in an ongoing legal dispute over a tough new law that Planned Parenthood claims unconstitutionally restricts women’s rights.
At least 12 Texas abortion clinics have been closed since October, after a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital to take effect.
No more than 20 clinics were able to meet the new standard, and some women must travel hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion. All of the facilities that remain open are in metropolitan areas, with none in the Rio Grande Valley along the border with Mexico.
The Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday isn’t the final say on the restriction. But it means that the law will remain in effect while Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit challenging it continues. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals plans to have a hearing in January on the lawsuit.
Texas is the nation’s second-most populous state, and an average of 80,000 abortions are performed there each year.
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