A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday is scheduled to hear arguments on the constitutionality of a hotly contested abortion law in Texas. The measure mandates stricter building codes for clinics that perform the procedure, and Fifth Circuit judges in New Orleans will decide whether that poses an undue burden.
The Texas law — HB2 — requires clinics that perform abortions to operate like ambulatory surgical centers. Think wider hallways and hospital-style equipment — upgrades that could cost millions.
Emily Horne of Texas Right to Life says it's needed for women's safety. She cites the case of Philadelphia doctor Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted of murder in botched abortions in 2013. Horne points out that he ran a filthy clinic with untrained staff and was found guilty in the death of a woman from an overdose of sedatives.
"And when they did the research, the grand jury report said had they been able to get to her sooner, had the hallways been wider, she may not have died. But it was a small facility, it wasn't emergency-equipped, and so that was one of the factors that contributed to her death," Horne says.
But Nancy Northup with the Center for Reproductive Rights — a group that's challenging the Texas law and others like it — says that case was an outlier.