New Abortion Laws Make Obtaining Safe, Affordable Procedures Increasingly Difficult for Women
October 8, 2015As the Supreme Court decides whether to hear arguments regarding Texas’ HB 2 abortion omnibus bill, a new report has just been released that shows just how harmful that law may be.
Monday, researchers at the University of Texas’ Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP) released a report demonstrating that wait times for abortion appointments increased to as long as 23 days at clinics in Austin and Ft. Worth due to clinic closures. TxPEP researchers also found that the closure of a clinic in Dallas increased wait times from five days or less to as many as 20 days, and one clinic was unable to schedule patients at all during the entire month of July when researchers called.
HB 2 went into partial effect in 2013 and forced patients to endure a mandatory delay of 24 hours before their abortion procedure. It also required abortion clinics to undergo costly renovations to become ambulatory surgical centers (ASC). If the Supreme Court doesn’t intervene in this case, it is estimated that these restrictions will leave Texas with only 9 clinics for more than five million women of reproductive age.