Lucy, a patient advocate, waters potted flowers on the Whole Women's Health Clinic's last day of seeing patients, in McAllen, Texas, March 4, 2014. Jennifer Whitney/The New York Times
Whether a woman should have to drive seven hours for a medical procedure could be a decisive factor in whether the state’s latest abortion restrictions go into effect next month.
Seven clinics will remain open and operating in Texas next month if the law requiring abortion facilities to meet the same standards as hospital-like surgical centers goes into effect. All of the remaining facilities are located in the Houston, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin metropolitan areas. There will be no abortion clinics west and south of San Antonio.
The state said that the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has already ruled that driving distances of less than 150 miles do not unconstitutionally burden women, but that it has not said that distances greater than 150 miles necessarily would either. The distance from McAllen, in South Texas, to San Antonio is over 230 miles one-way.
U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel asked if anyone would find it reasonable for patients with sprained ankles or needing appendectomies to drive over 150 miles to seek treatment, “I don’t believe we would stand for that on normal medical treatment.”
Yeakel is likely to decide the fate of law before it is set to go into effect Sept. 1. Both sides – the state and abortion providers – are likely to appeal his decision if they lose.
Lawyers on behalf of abortion providers said the costs of building, buying or leasing a facility that meets the requirements, including specific ventilation and sterilization systems, blood supplies, and hall and doorway sizes, is too costly and medically unnecessary.
“There is no evidence whatsoever that these [restrictions] are going to do anything to enhance the health or safety of women,” said Stephanie Toti, a lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights.