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Vol. 77/No. 27      July 15, 2013

 
(front page)
Thousands in Texas condemn bill
targeting woman’s right to choose

John Anderson/Austin Chronicle
Thousands take to streets July 1 after Texas Gov. Rick Perry organizes second effort in state legislature to pass prohibition on all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
 
BY SUSAN LAMONT  
Some 5,000 supporters of women’s right to choose abortion demonstrated at the Texas Capitol in Austin July 1 to protest the legislature’s impending passage of a bill that would impose new restrictions on abortion.

The bill passed June 24 by the Texas House of Representatives includes a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and a requirement that clinics performing the procedure meet hospital-style building standards. A third provision would require doctors performing abortions in clinics to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

The historic 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling that decriminalized abortion holds that states cannot interfere with a woman’s right to abortion until fetal viability, 24 to 28 weeks after pregnancy.

The following day the state senate voted to pass the bill, amid vocal protests by hundreds of supporters of women’s rights who crowded into the upstairs gallery. But Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he didn’t sign the bill until just after the midnight deadline because of the “unruly mob” in the state capitol.

Following the failure to get the measure passed before the midnight deadline, Gov. Rick Perry called a special session for July 1 to try again.

“If that bill passes, it would mean most abortion clinics in the state could be shut down,” Michael Cook, vice president of Texas National Organization for Women, told the Militant at a June 17 protest against the measure held at the Houston City Hall.

Twelve other states have passed laws banning abortion after 20 weeks. Courts have blocked the bans in three of the states — Arizona, Georgia and Idaho.

Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives in a 228-196 vote passed a bill June 18 banning abortion after 22 weeks of pregnancy. The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate, where it is not expected to pass.

Jacquie Henderson from Houston contributed to this article.  
 
 
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