The Ohio House OK’d legislation Tuesday to block public funding of Planned Parenthood or other abortion providers. The number of clinics in the state has dropped to 18 from around 40; the total would decline substantially more if the contested provisions are upheld.
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Help us bring you the news. State law already prohibits taxpayer money from paying for abortions.
“This is a risky, unsafe procedure and it’s standard medical care to have hospital-admitting privileges”, said Cheryl Ciamarra of Alabama Citizens for Life.
The Supreme Court once blocked portions of a state’s law on abortion clinics and did not take action on an appeal made by MS that would have closed down its only abortion clinic. Latina women living near the Mexican border and women who, due to cost or clinic proximity, had a hard time getting any reproductive health care at all, including Pap smears and contraception, reported abortion self-induction at significantly higher rates.
If Texas’ law is upheld, abortion services would be available only in the state’s largest cities, not in vast stretches of Texas west of Interstate 35, or – if similar laws are enacted – much of the Mountain West, Great Plains and rural South. Even if that was their intent, this study suggests thousands of abortion-seeking Texas women are being nudged away from healthcare settings entirely-be they safe or unsafe.
“It’s clear that a few Texas politicians are attempting to make an end-run around women’s legal right to an abortion by shutting down abortion facilities through the passage of laws that falsely claim to protect women”, said Marcia Greenberger of the National Women’s Law Center.
“The real war on women is abortions”, said Rep. Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson. The study outlines four primary reasons why women attempted to self-induce their abortion: financial limitations to travel to a clinic or pay for the procedure, the closure of their local clinic, the suggestion from a close friend or family member to self-induce, or to avoid the stigma or shame of going to an abortion clinic, especially if they had prior abortions.
The case the court rejected on Monday is New Hampshire Right to Life v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 14-1272.
Both of the controversial TRAP provisions in HB2 are opposed by leading medical groups, like the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who have filed briefs with the Supreme Court stating that the laws are indeed unnecessary and put women’s health at risk. The other requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. With the rise of harsh abortion laws, investigators believe more women will take matters into their own hands.
Haley, a Republican, ordered the investigation after the Center for Medical Progress released undercover videos of Planned Parenthood executives describing the sale of body parts from aborted babies.
“Americans are already being forced to fund Planned Parenthood, which has become the subject of numerous investigations”, added ADF Senior Counsel Casey Mattox.
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The Supreme Court’s ruling in the Texas case is unlikely to directly affect other aspects of the broader abortion wars.
