Vol. 78/No. 6      February 17, 2014

A Texas law that went into effect last October has further restricted availability of safe, legal abortions in the state. The legislation requires, among other things, that doctors have admitting rights at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion facility. This has forced a third of abortion clinics in the state, servicing 20,000 women annually, to cease offering the procedure. The law also reduces the time window for an abortion from 24 weeks of pregnancy, as established by the Supreme Court in 1973, to 20 weeks. Planned Parenthood has appealed the law. The case is pending in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The abortion rights rally here began with a moment of silence in solidarity with the family of Marlise Muñoz. The day before, her family had finally won a court ruling against a hospital in Fort Worth that had insisted on keeping her on life support even though she was brain dead. Hospital authorities argued that because Marlise was carrying a fetus, they were bound to “protect the unborn child,” in disregard for the wishes of her and her family.

“We lost our Planned Parenthood clinics in 2011” as a result of earlier government restrictions,” said Bianca Mason, who was among a number of protesters from Prochoice Aggies, a campus group at Texas A&M University in College Station.

A contingent of 15 came from Feminists United at Texas State University in San Marcos.

Some 2,000 opponents of women’s right to choose abortion rallied at the state Capitol the same day.
 
 
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