Women’s Health Laws? No, They’re Actually Antiabortion Laws
Many of the regulations on abortion now cropping up in states across the country are being passed off as attempts to protect women’s health. But what they are really intended to do is to continue the long-running war on women’s reproductive rights that unfortunately did not end with Roe vs. Wade 40 years ago. In fact, these new laws could actually harm women’s health by delaying their access to a legal, safe procedure.
Some states have passed laws requiring that abortion providers have hospital admitting privileges, and some federal courts, to their credit, have blocked those unnecessary measures. Last week, for instance, a federal judge in Louisiana blocked one that would have gone into effect Monday.
An even more common tactic of antiabortion legislators these days is to require that clinics meet the structural standards of ambulatory surgical centers. Such laws have been passed or enacted in 23 states, most since 2011. Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel blocked a portion of one in Texas — a costly and unnecessary measure that would have shut down more than half the state’s abortion clinics, leaving at most eight in place. Yeakel said the law would leave so many women 100 or even 200 miles from the closest clinic that the practical effect would be “a complete ban on abortion.”
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