U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled parts of Texas Legislature’s newest anti-abortion law unconstitutional this Monday.
Yeakel wrote against the law, it “does not bear a rational relationship to the legitimate right of the State in preserving and promoting fetal life or a woman’s health and, in any event, places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus and is thus an undue burden to her,” quotes The Washington Post.
The two parts in question are a segment which prohibits women from taking abortion drugs in their own home and another segment which mandates that abortion doctors have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Pro-choice supporters argued that such a mandate would close almost a third of Texas’ abortion clinics.
According to an emergency room physician who talked with CBS News, admitting privileges at a nearby hospital would do little to no good even for women with pre-existing medical conditions.
The lawsuit did not address the ban on abortions after 20 weeks which only allows for abortions that are necessary for the mother’s health. It also did not address the requirement that abortions be administered in an ambulatory surgery center. Such restrictions will not take effect until 2014.