U.S. Supreme Court blocks Texas abortion restrictions

abortion 2The high court granted a request filed by abortion rights groups that puts on hold parts of a federal appeals court decision that had allowed the law to go into effect.

The brief court order said that requirements that clinics have certain hospital-like settings for surgeries could not go into effect pending appeal.

The requirement that was to have gone into effect on Sept. 1 would require clinics to meet a set of building standards ranging from widening halls to having facilities for certain surgeries that abortion rights advocates said were unnecessary, especially when an abortion is medically induced.

The state argued the requirements in the Texas law would reduce complications and increase patient care.

The order also said that a provision that requires abortion practitioners to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles (48 km) of the clinic could not be enforced for clinics in McAllen and El Paso, cities near the Mexican border. The provision will be in force in the rest of the state.

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