AUSTIN–Women are left confused while several Texas abortion clinics prepare to reopen following a Supreme Court order that halted part of the state’s new abortion law from taking affect pending appeal.
Texas was left with eight abortion clinics after new restrictions went into effect earlier this month forcing over a dozen clinics to cancel appointments and shut their doors.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, 15 clinics could reopen while appeals are heard. Abortion providers and supporters worry that the changing clinic status’ are confusing women.
Whole Woman’s Health in Fort Worth and Routh Street Women’s Clinic in Dallas both plan to reopen, but have not yet announced when.
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas spokeswoman Kelly Hart said numbers to their call center “shot up significantly” following the initial closures.
“There was a scramble to fit in women who had appointments with facilities that had to close,” Hart said.
Wait times increased as the remaining clinics reached capacity. According to Misty Garcia, a board member of the Lilith Fund, which helps women fund abortion procedures, the soonest appointment some women have been able to schedule is two weeks away.
“They were panicking,” Garcia said of the callers who had to reschedule appointments due to clinic closures. They said things like “I hope this one stays open.”
Mara Posada, a spokeswoman with Planned Parenthood Trust of South Texas, said women with appointments at the San Antonio clinic are confused by the “mixed messages” they are receiving.
“They call wanting to be assured that they still have an appointment, that we will still be able to see them and give them the care they need,” Posada said.
Nan Little Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Texas Equal Access Fund, which also helps women fund abortions, said that while she was pleased with the Supreme Court’s ruling, she still worries about the effects the multiple court decisions are having on women.
“While courts go back and forth on this issue, we worry about the people who may have missed their window to receive abortion care last week,” Kirkpatrick said.
According to Kirkpatrick and Garcia, the organizations have received less calls for funding assistance since the clinics closed.
“We don’t have any reason to believe that the demand for abortion suddenly went down, so we are certain that people who were in need of care were unable to get appointments last week,” Kirkpatrick said.
Calls have been especially low from the Valley. Whole Woman’s Health in McAllen plans to reopen following the Supreme Court ruling. It will be the only remaining clinic in South Texas.
An attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents several Texas abortion providers in the lawsuit against the state, said the briefs are due Dec. 8 and hearings will be scheduled after that.
The clinics that reopen will be allowed to remain open until and unless the 5th Circuit upholds the law.
While the Supreme court offered no explanation to go along with their recent order, Esha Bhandari, an attorney with the Center said “this gives us optimism and hope that the Supreme Court sees what’s happening in Texas as a serious violation of women’s constitutional rights.”
U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel struck down two portions of the state’s strict abortion law requiring doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and requiring facilities to meet hospital-like building standards, stating that together they create an unconstitutional obstacle for women seeking abortions in Texas.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Yeakel’s decision pending the appeals process on Oct. 2, resulting in the closures.
The Supreme Court said Tuesday that the statewide facilities requirement could not take effect during the appeals process, and exempted two clinics in El Paso and McAllen from the admitting privileges requirement.
This is the second challenge of a 2013 law that also bans abortion after 20 weeks and limits the use of abortion-inducing pills.