Texas’ Ultra-Restrictive Abortion Law Partially Struck Down

Wendy Davis, winner

Remember Wendy Davis’ epic filibuster in the Texas legislature during the fight over abortion legislation? Remember that her filibuster forced Governor Miss Ricky Perry to call a second special session in order to allow the Taxes legislature to pass extremely restrictive new abortion laws?

Well, part of that legislation was struck down this week, on the heels of the news that those two special sessions of the Legislature cost the taxpayers in Texas $1.6 million dollars.

Yup, after spending months and months trying to find ways to save money, the Texas Legislature, and Governor Miss Ricky, spent a million-and-a-half dollars to pass legislation that has since been partially struck down.

Miss Ricky, loser

In a state where Governor Miss Ricky — who is certain to try and run at the White House in 2016 — calls himself a fiscal conservative. I guess that means he’s fiscally conservative if he doesn’t care about the issue but when he has a horse in the race — as in telling Texas women what they can and cannot do with their bodies and their healthcare — no expense is too great.

And after spending all that money, US District Judge Lee Yeakel blocked the provision in the law that required doctors performing abortions to have an agreement with a local hospital to admit patients, thereby foiling another attempt by the “pro-life” movement to use TRAP [Targeted Regulation ofAbortion Providers] laws to circumvent a woman’s constitutional right to choice.

The Court went on to point out that:

“By requiring abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges, the evidence is that there will be abortion clinics that will close. The record reflects that 24 counties in the Rio Grande Valley would be left with no abortion provider because those providers do not have admitting privileges and are unlikely to get them.”

Of course, this was the legislature and Governor Miss Ricky’s plan all along; to pass a law that did not technically ban abortions, which is a violation of the Constitution, but to instead ban abortions by closing down providers.

Fortunately for Texas women and the pro-choice movement, Judge Yeakel’s ruling was a victory, but it still cost the Texas taxpayers $1.6 million dollars because of their fiscally conservative GOP government is not so fiscally conservative when it comes to certain issues.

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