Jun 20 2013
Texas lawmakers on Tuesday approved three pieces of legislation that tighten the state's abortion restrictions, prompting worries that abortion clinics could close because of the changes.
The Texas Tribune: After Hours Of Debate, Senate OKs Abortion Regulations
After hours of emotional debate, the Senate late on Tuesday evening approved omnibus legislation to tighten abortion restrictions. … SB 5 includes three abortion regulation measures that failed to reach the floor of either chamber during the regular legislative session: a requirement that abortions be performed in ambulatory surgical centers, which state Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, has filed as SB 24 in the special session; a requirement that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion facility; and a requirement that if doctors administer the abortion inducing drug, RU-486, they do so in person, which state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, has proposed separately in SB 18 in the special session (Aaronson,6/18).
Bloomberg: Texas Senate Passes Bill That May Close Abortion Clinics
The Texas Senate passed rules that advocates for access to abortion say may force most of the state's clinics to close. Backed by Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican, the measure passed the Senate 20-10 yesterday at about 11:30 p.m. local time and now heads to the House of Representatives, where both sides say they expect it to win approval. Before the vote, lawmakers took out a provision to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy (Mildenberg and Deprez, 6/19).
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 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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