The back and forth legal wrangling over Texas’ controversial 2013 abortion law continued Tuesday. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the state from enforcing a key provision of the law, which had effectively closed all but a handful of health clinics in Texas providing abortions. The Justices granted a request to suspend a ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which, in turn, overturned a district court ruling. Got all that?
At the heart of the legal dispute is a requirement in the law for health clinics providing abortions to upgrade their facilities to meet the standards of outpatient surgery centers. Thirteen such clinics shut down Oct. 3 following the ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
We discuss the latest developments with Nicole Casarez, visiting professor of constitutional law at the University of Houston Law Center.
