Pro-Choice Activists Sue State of Texas Over New Abortion Law

 

THE STATE OF TEXAS – Since June of this year, the state of Texas has been entangled in a heated debate following the Department of State Health Service and Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s announcement that a new law would be implemented requiring all medical facilities that perform abortions to either cremate or bury the remains of aborted and miscarried babies, regardless of the period of gestation. After much protest from reproductive rights activists in Texas, the nation and beyond, the Center for Reproductive Rights is suing the state to prevent the law from going into effect.

The New Law

Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

This controversial new law was quietly proposed by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in June of this year. The law was conceived in an effort to regulate abortion, the Texas Tribune reported. In a public statement, health commission spokesman Bryan Black said, "The Health and Human Services Commission developed new rules to ensure Texas has maintained the highest standards of human dignity."

The proposed rules were published in the Texas Register on July 1, allowing a 30-day public comment period before being finalized. After much debate and an upswing in public comments, the Department of State Health Services resubmitted several updated rules within the law, as well as an analysis of the latter’s financial impact; people had an additional month to submit opinions.

In a Dallas Morning News article dated October 26, Blake Rocap, legislative counsel for NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, argued that "the rules target physicians that provide abortions and the hospitals that care for patients for no reason other than to make it harder to get a safe [and] legal abortion in Texas." He added, "It is so transparent that what they're really trying to do is deny access to abortion.”

Protests also came from medical and funeral industries critical of the costs associated with cremating or burying fetal remains. The Texas Funeral Directors Association voiced their members’ concerns as well, and feared that the impending law might affect the families they serve negatively, pointing to the cost associated with compliance. Cremations through a third-party crematorium range between $75 and $100 per specimen; for those who choose burials, the minimum for a small space in a cemetery is estimated at $500; and those who opt for a casket would likely have to pay an estimated $100, summarized another Texas Tribune article.

Michael Land, funeral home director and spokesman for the Funeral Directors Association added, "If you add labor on the part of the funeral home, the fees could go into the thousands of dollars."

However, Carrie Williams, Department of Health Services spokeswoman, told the Dallas Morning News that "while the methods described in the new rules may have a cost, the cost is expected to be offset by costs currently being spent by facilities on disposition for transportation, storage, incineration, steam disinfection and/or landfill disposal."

Allison Shelly for The TexasTribune)

On November 29, the Texas Department of State Health Services finalized its new regulations.

Recently, Ele Chupik’s Facebook post has been circulating among Texas women with a bold call-to-action, asking menstruating females to “send any used tampons, pads, or ‘indefinitely ruined underwear’ to Abbott, so that the Governor can test their ‘fertilized status’” on December 19, the day the law was supposed to go into effect (Facebook post is no longer available). The joke is, said TheBerry, “that women who are on their period technically have no idea about the fertilization status of any of the eggs released in their menses; so how are they to know which process of disposal is most appropriate according to the highly-invasive Texas state law?”

What Now?

The new rule requiring the burying or cremation of aborted or miscarried fetal remains due to abortions was supposed to go into effect on Monday, December 19. However, just seven days prior to its implementation, and 12 days after the Department of Health and Services finalized the rule, the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) sued the state of Texas to “stop the latest unconstitutional abortion restriction.”

Pro-choice activist rally outside the Supreme Court in June 2016 before the court ruling on the Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt that imposed heavy restrictions on abortion clinics in Texas (Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency)

In a press release, CRR stated that “the politically-motivated rules are designed to restrict a woman’s right to access safe and legal abortion by increasing both the cost of reproductive health care services and the shame and stigma surrounding abortion and pregnancy loss.” Those at CRR are angered as these new laws proposed by the state of Texas can be read as an attempt to undermine the victory of the Supreme Court Case Whole Woman’s Health vs. Hellerstedt that ruled the state of Texas could not shut down state abortion clinics with medically unnecessary restrictions.

President and CEO of CRR Nancy Northup emphasized that “these regulations are an insult to Texas women … These insidious regulations are a new low in Texas’ long history of denying women the respect that they deserve to make their own decision about their lives and their healthcare.” Northup assured Texas women, however, that “the CRR will continue to fight for Texas women, and women across the nation, to ensure their rights are protected.”

Federal Judge Sam Sparks of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas  (Portrait by Michele Ruschworth Portraiture and other Fine Art)

As of December 15, federal Judge Sam Sparks has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the new state law until January 6, 2017, reported Reuters. According to electronic court filings, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Judge Sam Sparks, will hold hearings on January 3 and 4. Sparks said last Thursday “each [side] would get about five hours for a hearing on January 3-4 to make their cases. There [will] likely be a decision on January 6.”

For more information about what happened in the court room on December 15, please visit here.

The state of Texas and the CRR now have a little under three weeks to prepare for their hearing dates.

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MLS, Thu, 12/22/2016 - 21:48

“these regulations are an insult to Texas women … These insidious regulations are a new low in Texas’ long history of denying women the respect that they deserve to make their own decision about their lives and their healthcare.”

So, we are insulting and disrespecting women by demanding that they respect the life they chose to end with a cremation or burial??? The only way to respect these women is by allowing them to disrespect God's decisions on the souls brought into this world??? This frustrates me. Sure this makes it emotionally and financially harder for them to have the abortion, but I'd say it's a small price to pay if your desire is to play God.

That being said...I understand that some women are raped, and in those cases I can understand their decision/desire to have an abortion (although I'd highly encourage them to consider adoption if they can handle it). Until I've been in their shoes, I can't possibly understand what that's like. Outside of that, why should anyone have the right to end a life that they are responsible for allowing God to create??? God does not tell us exactly when He places the spirit in the body, but I'd be willing to bet it's MUCH sooner than these pro-choice people will admit. Only God knows. I could be wrong. I just don't know why anyone would want to risk choosing to end a life that He had plans for and had already placed in the physical realm. Just because we think ending a pregnancy is for the best, does not mean that God didn't have a purpose and reason for it. Our best bet is to trust in Him that He knows what He's doing where life is concerned. If a woman is an unfit/young/unready mother...there are plenty of couples in the world that can't have children and would love to bring that child into the family of humanity so that they can live out their purpose in life.

Maybe I'm old fashioned. But I can guarantee you that God created life. I can guarantee you that he doesn't want us to take lives. I can guarantee you that no one can prove whether or not abortion is taking a life in God's eyes. So why play with fire. Why risk it? Yes He will forgive us, but shouldn't we do the best we can to serve Him and allow His will to be done??

I'm pretty sure everyone knows how babies are made (hopefully). If I choose to kill someone I don't want in my life, I'd be ok with just paying for a burial or cremation!
If a female is the victim of rape and becomes pregnant, she should have every right to an abortion. If a doctor deems a female "medically unfit" for child birth, she should have every right to an abortion.
However, if a female gets drunk, has sex, and gets pregnant; this is no excuse to disregard life. If you have sex "just once" unprotected; this is no excuse to disregard life.
Yes, I'm aware of the backlash my opinion will receive, as you should be as well. But, this is an issue that has been present for years. The simple solution.......don't have unprotected sex if you aren't willing and CAPABLE of being a descent human being and raising what you are creating!

You'd probably prefer these sinful harlots also be lashed for their drunken transgressions. How dare they!
Aligns with your already medieval world view.

Dimwits.

First off, no body here has been directly disrespectful towards you, there is NO reason to attack someone for having a different view than yourself. And, my "medieval world view" would require a stoning not a simple lashing. Merry Christmas Pogue, to you and your loved ones on this celebration of Christ our Lord!

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