Appellate Court Upholds Texas Law Criticized as Blocking Access to Abortions http://t.co/m41ANTkNvN
— TheRittenbergReport (@TheRReport) June 9, 2015WASHINGTON — A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld some of the most onerous parts of a Texas abortion law, which is likely to cause most of the state’s abortion clinics close. The ruling, released Tuesday, allowed provisions requiring clinics to meet hospital-level operating standards and requiring providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals to go into effect…. The ambulatory surgical center standards include minimum sizes for rooms and doorways, ventilation systems and other structural elements. While supporters of the law say it is meant to promote safety, its opponents say it places undue burdens on patients and is a veiled attempt to make the procedure inaccessible. The cost of meeting the ambulatory surgical center requirements is prohibitive for many clinics, and doctors often find it impossible to obtain admitting privileges from nearby hospitals, which may be Catholic or afraid of backlash if they offer those privileges.
Credit where credit is due: Anti-choice zealots figured out a long time ago that Roe v. Wade and its guaranteeing of safe, legal abortion access for women wouldn’t be defeated by a frontal assault. The right of a woman to control her own body is something favored by most Americans- not that this inconvenient fact has slowed or ever will slow down hyper-religious anti-choice zealots. The Texas law upheld by the federal appeals court is a textbook example of the successful strategy employed by the anti-choice lobby over the past few years. Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP laws) have been the (very effective) means by which anti-choice zealots have seized the upper hand in this struggle. Instead of overturning Roe v. Wade outright, anti-choice leaders determined that a more effective strategy would be to legislatively strangle legal abortion. Doing this meant passing laws- some overtly draconian and clearly intentional- designed to hold abortion providers to such high standards that they could no longer afford to offer reproductive care services to women in need.
TRAP laws are a (very) thinly veiled attempt to deny abortion rights by leaving the right legally intact while regulating providers out of existence. Leave the castle standing but drain the moat.
Most pro-life advocates know that personhood measures won’t succeed at the ballot box or in court, so they have pursued a more subtle, yet stunningly effective, type of restriction. Unlike personhood initiatives, TRAP laws are designed to fly under the radar, by mimicking ordinary health regulations. In reality, they target abortion facilities and providers with special, onerous regulations that are exceedingly costly or impossible to meet.
Some TRAP laws require abortion providers to obtain admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, even though hospitalization after abortion is extremely rare, and trained emergency room personnel are legally required to treat patients in such circumstances. Hospitals have wide discretion to deny privileges for reasons unrelated to medical competence, and if they do, a provider will be unable to continue offering services.
Other TRAP laws compel abortion clinics to meet the building and construction requirements of ambulatory surgical centers, even though abortion is a far simpler and less risky procedure than many of those performed at surgical centers. Abortion providers often find it logistically or financially impossible to renovate their facilities to meet ASC requirements and so must close. Indeed, that is the very point. About half of Texas’ clinics have shut their doors since recent TRAP regulations went into effect there, and Mississippi’s last clinic was on the verge of doing so until a court intervened.
Strictly speaking, Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land. The right to a safe and legal abortion still exists…at least in theory. Unfortunately for women, mostly poor ones, the framework necessary to support and enable abortion has been largely dismantled. Anti-choice zealots have succeeded in nibbling around the edges, creating a reality in which abortion is legal but inaccessible. The right to a safe and legal abortion has become the metaphorical equivalent of a table which no longer has legs to stand on.
It’s cynical, embarrassing and disgusting…and it’s been very successful. Abortion is still legal in places like Texas and Mississippi, but providers have been saddled with regulatory burdens so calculated and deliberately onerous that there’s no practical way for them to keep the doors open. Most TRAP laws have little to do with patient safety, which is the avowed (if disingenuous) intent and primary concern of such laws. The sole purpose of TRAP laws is to create an environment in which abortion, while still legal, is unavailable because providers have been regulated out of existence.
This is unfortunate for women unfortunate enough to live in a zip code within the jurisdiction of the 5th Circuit Court.
If you can’t beat ‘em, cheat ‘em, right?
