Oct 16 2014
Some Texas abortion clinics resumed scheduling patients for abortions after the Supreme Court's intervention. However, they did so knowing the legal challenges are not over.
The New York Times: Texas Abortion Clinics To Reopen Despite A Future In Legal Limbo
A day after the Supreme Court blocked a Texas law that had forced abortion clinics to close, some of the shuttered facilities prepared to reopen, pleased at the reprieve but mindful that the legal fight was far from over (Eckholm, 10/15).
Houston Chronicle: 'Shocked' Abortion Clinics Start To Reopen In Texas
At least four women's health centers across Texas resumed scheduling patients for abortions Wednesday morning, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked parts of a law that had forced more than a dozen facilities to stop providing the procedure. "We're all shocked, to be honest," said Ginny Braun, director of the Routh Street Women's Clinic in Dallas, which already had scheduled four patients for initial procedures by 8:30 a.m. "But I'm delighted that there has finally been some justice dealt this state and we will go forward from today." Routh Street was one of two clinics in Dallas to close when a federal appeals court ruled Oct. 2 to at least temporarily allow enforcement of a requirement that abortion facilities meet the standards of hospital-style surgical centers. A voicemail message at the other clinic, Abortion Advantage, reported it still was closed (Rosenthal, 10/15).
Kaiser Health News: Despite Supreme Court Ruling, Some Texas Abortion Clinics Remain Closed
But even with this ruling, the ongoing fight in Texas has permanently changed the landscape for abortion providers, and not all the clinics will re-open. Miller's clinic in Austin no longer has a lease or a state license. One Houston doctor got frustrated, closed his clinic at the end of September, and retired. Miller once had a clinic in Beaumont, but she closed it in March when doctors there can't obtain admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, another requirement in the state law (Feibel, 10/16).
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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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