by Diane Robertson
On March 2nd, the United States Supreme Court will hear a challenge to a 2013 Texas law requiring abortion clinics to maintain basic health and safety standards, and abortionists to maintain admitting privileges to nearby hospitals. The law also bans abortions beyond 20 weeks gestation. Those challenging the law argue that it violates a woman’s “constitutional right” to abortion.
For years, pro-abortionists have argued that abortion needs to be legal for the health and safety of women. Yet here they are fighting a law that expects abortion clinics to maintain the same health and safety standards of every other daytime surgical clinic in the state of Texas.
One argument opponents use against the law is that the law puts undue burden on women who want to get an abortion because women will need to travel farther. Since the law went into effect, some clinics have closed their doors. This happens regularly in many states when laws change. However, the law does not require clinics to shut down. The law requires clinics to maintain proper health and safety standards. The burden is on the clinics and it is the same burden on every other health clinic.
Some people would argue that basic health and safety standards are in the best interest of women and actually keeps them from receiving abortions in sub-par or back-alley places. Pro-abortionists are arguing that the Texas law has nothing to do with women’s safety. Alliance Defending Freedom points out that a federal law (outlined in the Federal Register at 47 Fed. Reg. 34082) requires all ambulatory surgery centers participating in Medicare to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. The federal law says that it “ensure[s] that patients have immediate access to needed emergency or medical treatment in a hospital.” The federal law is for safety. The Texas law is for safety. Abortion is a surgical procedure and can have serious complications that require hospital stays.
The law makes sense. It keeps women safe. Let’s hope that the Supreme Court justices will put the health and safety of women above the pro-abortionist’s desire for unregulated abortion on demand.