{"id":96427,"date":"2016-06-21T16:19:54","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T20:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=96427"},"modified":"2016-08-31T17:44:48","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T21:44:48","slug":"the-abortion-industry-cant-be-trusted-to-police-itself-it-must-be-regulated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-abortion-industry-cant-be-trusted-to-police-itself-it-must-be-regulated\/","title":{"rendered":"The abortion industry can’t be trusted to police itself\u2014 it must be regulated"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule this month on the biggest abortion case in nearly a decade:\u00a0Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The high court’s decision in the Hellerstedt<\/em> case will\u00a0draw the abortion landscape for the next several decades, and will determine whether\u00a0states can pass legislation\u00a0regulating the\u00a0abortion industry and protecting women.<\/p>\n

At the center of the case is Texas’ H.B. 2,\u00a0a law which ensures that women are not subject to substandard conditions within abortion facilities.\u00a0The law requires abortionists to have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles, and mandates facilities to upgrade to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers.<\/p>\n

Over 40 abortion facilities were in operation in Texas before the Legislature passed H.B. 2 in 2013, the Texas Tribune reports<\/a>. Since then,\u00a0roughly 21 abortion facilities have shuttered.\u00a0The number of clinics in business\u00a0is expected to drop to less than 10, should the Supreme Court fully uphold the Texas law.<\/p>\n

\"levatino-ad-LAN\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0abortion industry, however, has fought H.B. 2 and similar legislation\u00a0tooth-and-nail. Claiming that these laws bar access to abortion, advocates for abortion-on-demand\u00a0say Texas’ H.B. 2 brings women back to the 1960s, when they\u00a0resorted\u00a0to back-alley procedures and DIY methods.<\/p>\n

The argument on its face, however, is highly flawed. The spirit of Texas’ pro-life law is to implement commonsense protections for women seeking abortions by requiring facilities to adhere to basic regulations uniform to many\u00a0surgical clinics.<\/p>\n

Abortion clinics are shuttering\u00a0across the state because they refuse to abide by these requirements, and are placing\u00a0women at risk. Far from the cry of the\u00a0abortion lobby,\u00a0back-alley conditions are ubiquitous across the industry. Too many women have been maimed and killed inside\u00a0shoddy abortion practices, which have not been subject to specific inspections or regulations.<\/p>\n

H.B. 2 requires minimum health and safety standards, including\u00a0wider\u00a0facility corridors\u00a0for stretchers to pass through, and\u00a0larger operating rooms. The law also mandates facility cleanliness\u00a0and\u00a0safety, and ensures there is sufficient staffing.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0grotesque horrors\u00a0inside the facilities of abortionists Douglas\u00a0Karpen<\/a> (who was forced to stop operating under H.B. 2) and Kermit Gosnell\u2014 and the deaths of women, like Tonya Reaves<\/a> \u2014\u00a0teach us that\u00a0the abortion industry cannot be trusted to police itself. The countless crimes against women and children cannot continue, unregulated and hidden from\u00a0the American public.<\/p>\n