Rick Perry's memory is so bad... How bad is it? It's so bad he couldn't remember the two-count felony indictment filed by a grand jury against him. I wonder why that is, maybe it's because he's preoccupied with his (and the GOP's) continual war on women by taking away a woman's right to a safe abortion.
thinkingblue
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Tough new Texas abortion restrictions are on hold after a federal judge found Republican-led efforts to hold abortion clinics to hospital-level operating standards unconstitutional in a ruling that spares more than a dozen clinics from imminent closure.
The state vowed to quickly appeal Friday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel in Austin, who cited other rules GOP lawmakers have recently passed in his decision to throw out requirements that clinics meet hospital operating standards.
Those prior abortion restrictions include mandatory sonograms and a 24-hour waiting period after a woman first seeks out an abortion.
"These substantial obstacles have reached a tipping point," Yeakel wrote in a 21-page opinion.
Yeakel sided with clinics that sued over one of the most disputed measures of a sweeping anti-abortion bill signed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry in 2013. The ruling stops new clinic requirements that would have left seven abortion facilities in Texas come Monday, when the law was set to take effect.
Texas currently has 19 abortion providers — already down from more than 40 just two years ago, according to groups that sued the state for the second time over the law known as HB2.
The ruling blocks a portion of the that law would have required abortion facilities in Texas to have operating rooms, air filtration systems and other costly additions that are typically only mandated in surgical settings.
"I am truly disappointed in today's ruling that undermines a concerted effort to improve health care for women in Texas by raising the standard of care in abortion clinics," Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said.
Yeakel, however, concluded the intent was only to "close existing licensed abortion clinics."
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican who is the favorite to become governor next year, said he would seek an immediate appeal to try to preserve the new clinic rules.
Clinics called the measures a backdoor effort to outlaw abortions, which has been a constitutional right since the Roe v. Wade ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973.
MORE HERE:
http://www.sfgate.com/...