Today, October 14th, Time posted the article "Supreme Court Halts Some Texas Abortion Restrictions." The Supreme Court suspended a Texas ruling that required abortion clinics to "spend millions of dollars on hospital-level upgrades." This ruling was originally being debated in the 5th Circuit and was enforced while this was happening. It has led to over a dozen clinics on Texas closing as because they do not have the funding to meet these high specifications. Before the ruling was suspended but the Supreme Court, the only clinics that remained open were in large population centers such as Dallas-Ft Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. No clinics were left open along the Texas-Mexico border. Critics are calling this and measures like it in other states a "backdoor effort to outlaw abortions." The fight over the constitutionality of abortion restrictions across the county is a tough one and General Greg Abbott(R), a favorite in the Texas governor's race, strongly defends the Texas ruling. Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for governor of Texas, actually launched her campaign by temporarily blocking this law in the state senate, but is not the favorite.
This Article is worth reading not only because it deals with women's rights and the controversial topic of abortion in American law, but also because it deals with the upcoming election for governor and the position of one of the candidates in relation to the direction of the nation. It is important to be informed of how our more local policies are interacting with the bigger picture of the United States and the national trends of change. On this issue, I think Texas is on the wrong side of history.
