[ad_1]
Clinics in the second-largest U.S. state closed abortion services Saturday after the Texas Supreme Court blocked an order that would allow abortion procedures to resume under certain circumstances Reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Friday night’s ruling halted a three-day order from a Houston judge who said clinics could resume abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The next day, the ACLU said it doubted any abortion services were now available in the state with a population of nearly 30 million.
Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman’s Health, said the ruling forced a halt to abortions at four of its clinics in Texas, where staff are reducing abortion procedures and ‘Heartbreaking conversation’ with woman whose appointment was cancelled.
“My heart aches for us and for the first-rate abortion care we provide, many of whom will be in the months and years ahead,” Hagstrom Miller said in a statement. deprived of this right.”
Even after a restraining order was imposed on Tuesday, multiple Planned Parenthood branches in Texas have not resumed abortion services.
Also read | Abortion clinics prepare for tough days ahead
At issue is a long-dormant 1925 criminal law that targets individuals who undergo abortions. The clinic had argued that abortion was invalid after it became a U.S. constitutional right in 1973. However, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 overturned the landmark Roe decision, leaving abortion policy to the states.
“Pro-life victory! … The lawsuit continues, but I will continue to win for the unborn baby in Texas,” said Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who had asked the state Supreme Court to intervene .
Separately, Texas has a 2021 law aimed at banning abortions if Roy is overturned. It goes into effect in the next few weeks.
“Extremist politicians are working to force Texans to conceive and give birth against their will, no matter how severe the consequences,” said Julia Kaye of the ACLU.
Providers and patients across the country have been grappling with an evolving legal environment surrounding abortion laws and access.
In Florida, a law banning abortions after 15 weeks went into effect on Friday, a day after a judge called it a violation of the state constitution and said he would sign an order temporarily banning abortions next week. The ban could have wider implications in the South, as Florida currently allows more use of the program than neighboring states.
Also read | U.S. Supreme Court decision prompts French government to act
Even when women travel in states that ban abortion, they may not have many options to end their pregnancy because they face the possibility of prosecution.
Planned Parenthood of Montana this week stopped offering medical abortions to patients living in the ban state.
Planned Parenthood’s north-central states, which offer the procedure in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, told patients they must take both drugs in states that allow abortions.
This use pills Mifepristone has been the most common method of terminating pregnancy since 2000, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone, the lead drug for medical abortion. Taken with misoprostol, a drug that causes spasms that empt the uterus, it constitutes an abortion pill.
Also on Friday, Google, the company behind the internet-dominant search engine and the Android software that powers most smartphones, said it would automatically clear information on users visiting abortion clinics or other places that could raise potential legal issues.
In addition to abortion clinics, Google listed counseling centers, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, and cosmetic surgery clinics as destinations. Remove from location history. Users have always had the option to edit their location history themselves, but now Google will do it for them as an extra level of protection.
“We are committed to providing strong privacy protections for those who use our products, and we will continue to find new ways to strengthen and improve these protections,” Google senior vice president Jen Fitzpatrick wrote in a blog post.
[ad_2]
Source link