APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS TEXAS ABORTION LAW

  

A federal appeals court in New Orleans upheld the controversial Texas abortion law that kept the State Legislature in special session last summer.

A panel of judges for the Fifth Court of Criminal Appeals overturned a lower court judge who said the rules violate the U.S. Constitution and served no medical purpose.  The opinion reads that the law ‘on its face does not impose an undue burden on the life and health of a woman.’

Texas lawmakers last year passed some of the toughest restrictions in the nation on when, where and how women may obtain an abortion.  The Republican controlled Legislature required abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles and placed strict limits on doctors providing abortion reducing pills.

Abortion rights supporters called the measures an attempt to stop abortions in Texas through regulation.  

The debate on the abortion restrictions led to a 13 hour filibuster by Ft. Worth State Senator Wendy Davis, propelling her to national prominence and a run for governor.