Vol. 77/No. 28      July 22, 2013

BY SUSAN LAMONT  
“We are going to stay here as long as needed,” said Marianna Anaya, 23, of Rise Up Texas, speaking with the Militant by phone from outside the state capitol in Austin, Texas. Hundreds of supporters of women’s right to choose abortion have been protesting a new anti-woman law under debate in the state legislature there that would further restrict access to abortion.

“We had many more pro-choice people here yesterday than the ‘blue shirts,’” said Anaya, referring to the blue T-shirts worn by backers of the bill, who also rallied at the capitol July 8.

The new Texas law would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, require that the procedure be performed at ambulatory surgical centers, that doctors who perform them have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, and that drug-induced abortions be administered in a surgical center. Only five out of the 42 abortion clinics in Texas would meet the onerous building requirements.

Some 5,000 supporters of women’s right to abortion rallied at the state capitol July 1, demanding that the legislature vote down the bill.

On July 9 more than 500 protested the bill in Houston. “I was moved to come out today by the actions in Austin,” Sara England, a University of Houston student, told the Militant. “It will be a real burden on women, especially in rural areas across the state, if this bill is passed and clinics close.”

Gov. Rick Perry convened the legislature July 8 to push the bill through, after an initial attempt failed on technical grounds June 25. It was passed again by the House July 10.

In North Carolina, some 2,000 people rallied July 8 at the state capitol in Raleigh against efforts to pass a bill to require clinics that perform abortions to meet safety standards designed for ambulatory surgical centers.

“We still don’t know exactly what the regulations for clinics would be if this bill passes,” said Janet Colm, CEO of Central North Carolina Planned Parenthood, in a July 9 phone interview. “Planned Parenthood operates four clinics in North Carolina and we are determined to keep them open, no matter what.” There are 12 other abortion clinics in the state.

In Wisconsin, federal Judge William Conley issued a temporary restraining order barring implementation of a provision in a new law restricting abortions that requires doctors working at abortion clinics have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed suit July 5 to block the provision. According to the legal complaint, two of the state’s four abortion clinics would be forced to close, leaving much of the state with no abortion provider.

On June 28 a federal judge blocked implementation of a similar law in Alabama.

One of the most stringent anti-abortion bills in the country was signed into law at the end of June by Ohio Gov. John Kasich. “Clinics must have an agreement with a local hospital to transfer patients there in case of an emergency, but public hospitals are barred from entering into those agreements,” the Washington Post reported July 1. Some clinics have been granted exemptions, but the health department director has the unilateral power to revoke them.  
 
 
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