AG APPEALING ABORTION RULING

  

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has already file an appeal to a federal court judge’s ruling yesterday that the new abortion restrictions violated the U.S. Constitution. The Attorney General, who is now running for governor, filed the appeal about an hour after the ruling with the Fifth U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans. 

U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel ruled Monday that new abortion restrictions passed by the Texas Legislature this past summer are unconstitutional.  The ruling came one day before the restrictions were to go into effect.

The restrictions called for doctors who perform abortions to have admitting priveleges at local hospitals and controls on the use of RU486—the so-called “morning after pill”, and were scheduled to take effect tomorrow (Tuesday).

District Judge Lee Yeakel issued his decision following a three-day trial.

Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers argued that the regulations did not protect women and would shut down a third of the abortion clinics in Texas. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights were also parties to the suit challenging the abortion restrictions.

The Texas attorney general's office argued that the law protects the life of the fetus.

The proposed restrictions are considered among the toughest in the nation.