Texas Is Permanently Shutting Abortion Clinics and the Supreme Court Can't Do Anything About It

When Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a sweeping anti-abortion law in 2013, he did so knowing the measure faced an uncertain future. Indeed, the law is already winding its way through the legal system, and if its opponents have their way, Texas's reproductive legal code will land in the hands of the Supreme Court.

But such a decision is likely a year or years a way, and back in the Lone Star State, the final judicial score won't much matter.

The law has already had tremendous success in closing abortion clinics and restricting abortion access in Texas. And those successes appear all but certain to stick—with or without the Supreme Court's approval of the law that created them.

There were more than 40 clinics that provided abortions in Texas in 2011. There are now 20 still open, and after the law's last steps of implementation are taken in September, all but six are expected to close. Most of the closed clinics will never reopen, their operators say.

Few businesses could survive a years-long hibernation, and that's all the more true for clinics, providers say. The added difficulty of finding qualified doctors, getting new licences, and navigating state health department regulations is a hurdle higher than most closed clinics are likely to clear—especially in a state where a sizable portion of the public is vehemently opposed to abortion and unwilling to aid it in any way.

"I can't find anyone to deliver water or resurface the parking lot, because they're against abortion. I can't get someone to fix a leak in the roof," said Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Women's Health.

In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit—which covers Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana—upheld the law as constitutional. Additionally, the court declined a request to keep two of the law's provisions, both of which were instrumental in the clinic closures, from taking effect before the legal struggle over the law is completed.

The clinic closures will increase as the law phases in a set of requirements for abortion facilities. The first set, which included a requirement that doctors performing the procedure have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, went into effect last November, prompting many clinics to close. The final set of restrictions—that all abortions, including drug-induced, be performed in ambulatory surgical centers—takes effect in September.

Hagstrom Miller's company had five abortion facilities and one ambulatory surgical center in Texas in 2013. Two closed as a result of the admitting-privilege requirement in March, and it's likely that only the surgical center in San Antonio will remain by September.

"The opposition has been extremely strategic," Hagstrom Miller said. "This law is perfectly crafted."

Ambulatory surgical centers are facilities that conduct outpatient or same-day surgical procedures, and must meet specific requirements regarding infrastructure, procedures, and equipment. The centers cost far more to run than abortion clinics, and would cost several million dollars to build from the ground up.

Hagstrom Miller also said it has been impossible to find hospitals that will agree to give admitting privileges to abortion providers, or ambulatory surgical centers that will sell or lease their facilities. Leasing or buying the space itself is expensive and difficult, and Hagstrom Miller currently has mortgages on three buildings, which she will have to sell. She purchased those under a different name, and did construction without associating them with Whole Woman's Health out of concern that she wouldn't get permitting or might attract protests.

The antiabortion coalition that backs the law sees all of this as sound public policy, arguing that the law's restrictions were put in place to protect women seeking medical care, and if the centers can't meet them, then they should be closed and stay closed.

"If the state is passing regulations that are similar or equivalent to those that all other medical facilities provide, and some [clinics] close because they're not meeting standards that other medical facilities have to meet, I don't see a problem with that," said Dan McConchie, vice president for government affairs at Americans United for Life, an advocacy group that worked on parts of the Texas legislation.

The six remaining abortion clinics come September will be clustered in major cities, which opponents of the law argue unfairly disadvantages women in rural areas—particularly the Rio Grande Valley—who tend to be poorer and less able to travel long distances for an abortion. Those clinics that remain will be serving more women with fewer doctors, leading to longer wait times and delayed procedures, the opponents say.

The legal struggle over the law continues, but in Texas, the law's challengers are looking beyond their state's borders. Following a broad Republican conquest of statehouses in 2010, a wave of state-level antiabortion laws have been passed—including in states whose circuit courts abortion rights groups hope will be more sympathetic to their arguments.

As challenges to those laws work their way up the legal system, opponents of the Texas law are hoping for a circuit-court ruling that is incompatible with the 5th Circuit appeals decision. Such a contradiction would open the possibility of the entire issue being elevated to the Supreme Court, where—depending on the scope of the decision—Texas's law could either be upheld or struck down.

But the U.S. judicial system is a deliberative one, and with the request for a stay denied, the Texas law is unlikely to be voided anytime soon.

"[A decision] is a ways away," said Jennifer Dalven, director of the Reproductive Freedom Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, which was part of the suit filed against the Texas legislation. "I dont think it would be next year; more likely in the year after that."

“I can’t find anyone to deliver water or resurface the parking lot, because they’re against abortion. I can’t get someone to fix a leak in the roof,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Women’s Health.

Awww. That’s a real shame.

Few businesses could survive a years-long hibernation, and that's all the more true for clinics, providers say.

Yet the Left via the FDA, EPA, FCC and the other political muscle agencies demand that businesses do just that. The only thing consistent about the Left is destructiveness.

I don’t think that there are that many either. But I do think the ones there are also live a promiscuous lifestyle and are concentrated in big cities with booming night time entertainment. San Antonio. Chicago. New Orleans. NYC. San Francisco.

Those places will become hubs for immorality even more because they probably will be able to meet the same requirements as a dentist or an eye clinic in those localities.

Abortions won’t be three or five hundred dollars though. Probably about two or three grand.

That’s how I see things shaking out.

So this isn’t a big enough barrier all by itself.

I love the ‘We cannot get water delivered...We cannot get our roof repaired—We cannot get the parking lot repaved.

There is alot of such that can be used in protest all over the country.

Most recent at the bottom!

Lawrence (KS) abortion clinic closes because of funding woes
Eugene abortion clinic closes; surprising many (Hooray !!!)
Prayer credited for closing of abortion clinic [Eugene, OR]
Planned Parenthood will shut down 3 clinics [Indiana]
Persevering Students Help Close Abortion Clinic [Santa Paula, CA--Thomas Aquinas College]
Abortion Clinic Managers Quit After Being Outed by Operation Rescue [Wichita, Kansas]
One Man's God Squad: Troy Newman's plan to stop abortions in Wichita, Kansas
Baby Saved From Abortion is Baptized [New Orleans]
Thank You Bishop Rhoades: A Personal Account of An Abortion Protest With A Catholic Bishop -- still praying -- Harrisburg, PA
Judges rule civil suits against Planned Parenthood can proceed [Los Angeles, CA]

STOPP Planned Parenthood
CA: Abortion opponents hope to limit access for California girls (Prop 73)
Jill Stanek's Accurate Summary of Cincinnati Abortion Center Closing: 'Debi Does Ohio"
Clinic is caught in the fog of abortion war (Abortion Clinic Closes) [Springfield, Missouri]
PBS program looks at Mississippi's last abortion clinic
Former abortion clinic ‘resurrected’ as Catholic chapel [Buffalo, NY]
Health Department suspends license of Montgomery abortion clinic [Alabama]
Abortion center ordered to close: East Side clinic cited with violations [Cleveland, Ohio]
Yet another abortionist can't stand heat, quits [Daytona Beach, Forida]
Controversial Chicago Abortion clinic closing

Planned Parenthood closes clinic after clinic
Planned Parenthood to close Longview clinic (WA)
State shuts abortion clinic over health risks [Englewood, New Jersey]
Atlantic City abortion clinic shut for violations [New Jersey]
Atlantic City Abortion Center Closes Down for Good After Health Violations
Late-Term Abortion Facility in Dallas, [TX] To Close - Eighth Closure Since Bishop Began Prayer at Clinics
New York Abortion Clinic Closes Today; Was site of 40 Days for Life Vigil [200 East Eckerson Road in New City, N.Y}
Planned Parenthood Abortion Center [Temporarily] Closes Instead of Following New Law [Sioux Falls, SD]
[South Dakota] Planned Parenthood Abortion Center Closes Instead of Following New Law [Sioux Falls]
Abortion Provider Closes Doors Instead of Obeying Laws, Old Media Silent [Sioux Falls, SD]

Planned Parenthood Lays Off SD Director
Planned Parenthood Lays Off Staff Over Economy, South Dakota Director Fired
Planned Parenthood Out of Texas Panhandle: STOPP Plan Ousts Abortion Chain from Amarillo
Abortion facility to close following 40 Days for Life campaign [Orange Co. CA]
"We have a problem with financing Planned Parenthood” (Orange County supervisor)
“They’re nothing more than a baby-killing organization” ( No funding to Planned Parenthood ) [Orange and San Bernadino Counties, CA]
Monroe, Washington Planned Parenthood Center Closes Over Tough Economy
Family of Abortion Practitioner George Tiller Will Close Business [Whichita, KA]
Tiller Clinic To Close Permanently [Wichita, KA]
Tiller's Abortion Facility to Close Forever [Wichita, KA]

Slain Kansas abortion provider's clinic to close [Wichita, KA]
Clinic of Murdered Kansas Abortion Doctor Will Be 'Permanently Closed' [Wichita, KA]
Planned Parenthood Shuts Doors on 7 Clinics [All in El Paso, TX]
El Paso loses 7 abortion centers
Number of Abortion Centers Nationwide Falling, Pro-Abortion Legal Group Says
Indiana Planned Parenthood Closes Five Centers After Hiding Abortion-Sex Abuse
Planned Parenthood closing in Kirksville, MO
Abortion Business in Florida Closes After Operating Without License
[Pensacola] Florida Abortion Facility Closes During 40 Days for Life
[Youngstown,] Ohio Abortion Clinic Follows National Trend and Closes
[Hazleton, PA] City office of Planned Parenthood shuts down

[Raleigh] North Carolina Abortuary Hammered by Pro-Life Prayers Ceases Abortions
La. officials suspend abortion clinic's license[Shreveport]
Louisiana Abortion Clinic Shut Down for Ignoring “Most Basic” Medical Practices [Shreveport]
New Jersey Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz Closes After Christie Cuts Funds [Southern New Jersey]
Christie Veto Shuts Down Abortion Clinics in NJ
Clinic Run by Doctor Who Killed Woman in Failed Abortion, Halts Abortions
Missouri Planned Parenthood Temporarily Stops Columbia Abortions, Just Two Open (in MO.)
Pro-Lifers Boot Planned Parenthood from Michigan Counties
Planned Parenthood of Central Texas Closes Two Centers [Groesbeck and Marlin, Texas]
Michigan Planned Parenthood Centers Denied Lease Renewal (Three Rivers, Sturgis, Hillsdale, Coldwater, Michigan)
Closure of Two More Abortion Clinics Continues National Trend [Yakima, WA and Southgate Clinic, Detroit, MI

Louisiana Health Department revokes license of abortion clinic
Planned Parenthood Closes Center Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Birmingham abortion clinic agrees to close doors (Alabama)
Allentown abortion clinic's registration revoked by Pennsylvania Health Department
Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz Closes Two Centers in Iowa (Newton and Des Moines)
Abortion clinic director blames new state law for closure [Knoxville, Tennessee]
New York City’s oldest and largest abortion clinic stops abortions due to pro-life protests
Planned Parenthood to Close Abortion Clinic in Abilene, Texas
Mississippi's only abortion clinic misses deadline
Shocking photos of closed Michigan abortion clinic show ‘disgusting’ conditions

North Carolina abortion clinic shut down by state as ‘imminent danger’ to public health [Charlotte, NC]
Planned Parenthood closing three Texas clinics, including Abby Johnson’s former clinic
Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz Closing Clinic in New Jersey
4 more abortion centers CLOSED [Sacramento, California, Kenmore, Washington, Toledo, Ohio, Fairfax, Virginia]
Delaware Now First State Since Roe With No Surgical Abortions
Chain of six Northern CA late-term abortion clinics CLOSED [Concord, Fremont, Sacramento, Salinas, San Francisco, and San Jose]
Fairfax City abortion clinic, busiest in Virginia, closes
‘Busiest’ Abortion Clinic in Virginia Closes Up Shop [Fairfax County]
42nd Abortion Clinic Closed This Year Due to Filthy, Unsafe Conditions [Asheville, North Carolina]
Abortion clinic closings on rise in U.S., 44 tallied year to date

DAY 3: THREE more abortion centers — CLOSED![ BEAUMONT, McALLEN AND HARLINGEN, TEXAS]
Texas Is Permanently Shutting Abortion Clinics and the Supreme Court Can't Do Anything About It

“Hagstrom Miller”!? What a name. She is a storm of hags who are grinding babies to death.

Perhaps those who are pro-death should move from Texas to New York.

Oklahoma has passed a law similar to the Texas law.

Louisiana has a law that is waiting on the Louisiana Senate (it is stuck in committee).

Should be signed pronto by Gov Bobby Jindal once it passes.

Louisiana Bill is House Bill [HB] 388.

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