NARAL Pro-Choice America and NARAL Pro-Choice Texas on Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ Decision Regarding Controversial Abortion Law

Today, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a portion of Texas’s controversial abortion laws to go into effect. The provision requires that doctors who provide abortion care have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of a clinic.

Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said:

“Today’s decision by Texas’s Fifth Circuit Court ignores the data about the safety of these procedures and adds one more burden on a woman’s right to make personal decisions for herself about when, where, and how to have a family. While Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land, Texas—and other states—seem determined to invalidate that decision by making it almost impossible for women to access the care they need. Clinics are already closing at an alarming rate, and this decision assures there will be fewer facilities for women to safely access abortion care. This decision reaffirms that we need to continue the fight to ensure that all women, regardless of where they live, can exercise their constitutional right to choose, and it makes even more critical our efforts to pass legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act at the federal level so women are awarded their full rights regardless of their zip code.”

Heather Busby, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, said:

“The panel that decided this case against the people of Texas illustrates the need for more diversity of experience among the courts. The justices displayed a willful ignorance of what it means to be a struggling parent in Texas and the challenges to accessing reproductive health services that are four or more hours away, including lost wages, childcare, transportation and lodging. For the residents of the Rio Grande Valley, for west Texas and east Texas, safe and legal care is incredibly difficult, if not impossible to access.”