Texas Abortion Providers Make Emergency Request To High Court

After a federal appeals court last week gave the state a green light to implement parts of a Texas law that restricts abortion, lawyers for the state's abortion providers asked the high court to step in and grant temporary relief so that the state's clinics could stay open while legal action continues. This particular issue could be one of several abortion-related cases that could reach the court in the upcoming term.    

Politico: New Abortion Cases Could Reach Supreme Court
The Supreme Court was asked Monday to block parts of a Texas law that restricts access to abortion, an emergency request that could be just the first of several abortion-related cases to reach the court in the upcoming term. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on Thursday allowed Texas to implement a law that restricts abortion providers and immediately shuttered all but seven of the state’s remaining clinics. On Monday, the women’s health facilities asked the high court to essentially undo that decision, allowing them to remain open as the legal fight proceeds (Haberkorn, 10/6).

Texas Tribune: Abortion Providers Ask U.S. Supreme Court To Review Decision
After a federal appeals court ruled that the state could temporarily enforce new requirements for abortion facilities, Texas abortion providers are looking to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Monday, attorneys for the abortion providers challenging the state’s House Bill 2 filed an emergency application asking the Supreme Court to reinstate a U.S. district court ruling that had blocked key provisions of the law from going into effect. Last week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state could enforce the abortion law as the case makes its way through the appeals process. The law includes requirements that doctors performing abortions have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of a clinic and that clinics meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers (Ura, 10/6).

Texas Tribune: Texas Women Seeking Abortions May Look To Their Docs
When federal appellate judges ruled last week that the state could enforce strict new abortion restrictions while a legal challenge winds its way through the courts, Texas was left with just eight abortion clinics authorized to perform the procedure. While many Texas women now live hundreds of miles away from such facilities, some may still have another option: their doctor’s office. State statute does not require physicians’ offices, such as gynecology and obstetrics practices, to obtain abortion licenses if they perform fewer than 50 such procedures a year. That exempts them from the most restrictive provisions of House Bill 2, the contentious 2013 measure that has now shuttered almost all of the state's remaining abortion clinics (Ura, 10/7).