It's not just Texas

No, I'm not talking about ebola. I'm referring to yesterday's 5th circuit appeals court to decision to uphold TARP restrictions on abortion clinics.

13 clinics must shut their doors immediately.

To date, judges and appeals courts have largely struck down the most onerous restrictions such as those that require that a clinic meet the standards for an ambulatory surgical center.

Here is what was upheld in Texas:

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HB2, which the Texas Legislature passed in 2013, restricted abortion in four ways:

It banned nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
It required that abortion-inducing drugs such as mifepristone be administered in the presence of a doctor, resulting in three separate clinic visits.
It mandated that physicians performing the procedure have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic where they practice.
And it demanded that all abortion clinics have the same equipment and building requirements as ambulatory surgery centers, even if all they do is administer oral abortion drugs.

More:

A representative of the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for reproductive rights, saw no clarity in the 5th Circuit’s ruling. Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues associate for Guttmacher, called it “a total mess.”

“This is not how courts operate,” Nash said in an interview. Usually, she said, if a law is being appealed before it goes into effect, courts will hold its enforcement in abeyance until the appeal is decided. But that’s not what happened.

“If these clinics close immediately and are closed for any amount of time, it’s going to be very difficult to rebuild this system,” Nash said. “If this law is ultimately knocked down a year from now, reopening these clinics is going to be incredibly hard. People will have found new jobs.

“This upends the entire system,” she added. “That’s why laws are enjoined until the very end. Because upsetting the status quo is so devastating.”

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http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-texas-abortion-20141002-story.html

The repercussions of this are enormous.